Harry's Requirement
by MoonyJude7
Summary: Harry is distraught after seeing his father and Sirius act cruelly towards Snape in the Pensieve, and escapes to the Room of Requirement. But does Harry know what he really needs? A time travel story.
1. Chapter 1

Harry ran up the staircase as fast as he could, not caring that he could get in trouble for  
being out of bed. The images he had seen in the Pensieve were swimming through his  
mind, causing him to lose track of what he was doing. He just knew he had to go somewhere, and he couldn't face Ron and Hermione right now.

When he got to the Room of Requirement, he quickly walked back and forth three times. When the door appeared, he yanked the handle and stumbled into the room. The room was full of the strangest things. It almost looked as though everyone who'd ever been to Hogwarts had dumped their stuff in there. But before Harry could focus on anything, a large mirror caught his eye. It looked rather like the Mirror of Erised, but he knew it couldn't be it. He looked into the mirror, but instead of seeing his own reflection, he saw his father's teenage face, snickering as he tortured Snape. Harry felt a rush of disgust and reached out to shove James, forgetting it was a mirror. But rather than feeling the smooth glass, Harry felt a sponge-like substance and felt himself start to be pushed into the mirror. He felt as though he had when he went into the Pensieve, only much, much worse….

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry awoke on the soft carpet in the Room of Requirement, opening his eyes to look  
blearily at the room. He became vaguely aware that the mirror was gone, and then  
surrendered again to a deep slumber.

**HPHPHPHP**

When Harry woke up again, he didn't remember where he was and how he'd gotten here. But after a few minutes with his mind racing, he recalled what he had seen in the Pensieve and the mirror he had fallen through. He quickly looked for the mirror, but it was nowhere to be found. Shaking his head, he left the room and started the walk back to his dormitory, thinking he must have passed out from exhaustion. As Harry walked through the corridors, he became vaguely aware that it was daylight outside. In fact, it looked as though it was the middle of the day. He quickened his pace, wondering how long he had been out. He still had not seen anyone, which wasn't surprising since it must be lunchtime.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Harry heard from behind him. He turned around and  
saw a boy that looked to be in seventh year. Harry had never seen him before, but he had a Gryffindor tie and a Head Boy badge. Confused, Harry just stared at him. The boy did look faintly familiar…

"Don't act innocent with me, Potter. I know you and your friends set off the Dungbombs in the third floor corridor earlier. Don't try it again," the boy said sternly, and walked off.

Harry stared at the back of the boy's head, knowing he had seen that face before, but he couldn't quite place it. And what had the boy been talking about? Dungbombs? Harry  
certainly didn't have any Dungbombs. Perhaps it had been Fred and George, but Harry had an uneasy feeling that he knew what was going on.

He walked toward the Great Hall. He could hear people laughing and talking, but still  
something did not seem right. He peeked around the door, wishing he had his Invisibility  
Cloak, and gasped at what he saw. Near the end of the Gryffindor table were four boys. One looked rather ill and did not seem to be paying much attention to the others. Another was laughing at everything the other two said, glancing back and forth nervously. The third had long, shaggy hair that looked both handsome and laid back at the same time, and the last boy looked exactly like Harry.

Harry quickly turned around and leaned against the wall, praying he had not been seen. He breathed in and out quickly, trying to process the fact that he had just seen his teenage father, very young and very alive. And this time, Harry was not just looking at a memory. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Prongs!" yelled Sirius. "Heads up!" James Potter looked up just in time to catch the Remembrall his friend threw at him.

"Where'd you get this, Padfoot?" he laughed.

Sirius Black grinned wickedly. "Can't tell you now," he drawled, "since the prefect might get angry."

"Oh, shut up," Remus Lupin sighed good-naturedly. "Where've you been?"

"Well," began Sirius dramatically, "it all started when Wormtail here forgot his Potions  
homework in the common room."

"I didn't mean to!" interrupted Peter Pettigrew. "You distracted me."

"Don't worry, my friend, I don't blame you a bit," assured Sirius. "But it's important to the story."

Mollified, Peter sat down on the bench and began to fill his plate. The four boys were sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, oblivious to the scrutiny of Lily Evans. She could have sworn she saw James Potter peek from behind the doorway, but that was impossible. James was sitting with his friends, laughing at some joke Sirius had made. She shook her head and decided she had just imagined it.

**HPHPHPHP**  
Harry racked his brain, wondering what he could do. He considered confronting his father and explaining what had happened, but then he decided that was bad idea. After all, they were practically identical. James would probably curse him on the spot. Then he realized – Dumbledore. Of course! He could go to Dumbledore and explain what happened. Dumbledore would know what to do; he always did. Harry hurried to the gargoyles that guarded Dumbledore's office. He racked his brain, trying to think of what the password would be. "Lemon drop?" he guessed. Unsurprisingly, the gargoyles didn't move. "Er… Chocolate Frog, Cockroach Cluster, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Pumpkin Pasties…" At the words "Pumpkin Pasties" the gargoyles jumped aside.

Harry grinned, then hurried up the staircase. He knocked on the door and heard Dumbledore's weary voice say, "Come in." He opened the door and quickly closed it behind him. He turned around to see Dumbledore smile at him. "Hello, Mr. Potter," he said. "Are you and Mr. Black causing trouble again?"

"No, sir," Harry muttered. "Professor – wait – I'm not James." The old man raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he asked mildly. "Well, you certainly look quite a bit like him."

"Sir, you don't understand!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm from the future! I'm James' son!"

Dumbledore peered at him over his spectacles. "And how exactly did you get here?"

"I'm not sure, sir," Harry began. "All I know is I was in the Room of Requirement, and  
there was this mirror…" He stopped, staring at Dumbledore. "What are you doing?"

Dumbledore had taken a piece of paper and was writing on it. He then gave it to Fawkes and said, "Please give this to Professor McGonagall." After Fawkes had flown away, he turned to Harry and asked, "What is your name?"

"I'm Harry," he answered, taken aback. "Harry Potter."

"Well, Harry," Dumbledore said kindly, "I know what object you are thinking of, and I know it will be a while until you can go back to your own time."

"Like how long, exactly?" Harry questioned.

"However long it takes for you to be at peace," responded Dumbledore.

"Be at peace?" Harry said incredulously. "I don't even understand what that means."

"Yes, it is rather philosophical sounding, isn't it? But you will… and when you do, then you will be able to go back home. I believe you were put here for a reason."

"So what do I do now?"

Dumbledore smiled at the boy as a knock came on the door. "Come in," he called. Professor McGonagall stepped in the room.

"You called for me, Albus?" she asked. She glared at Harry, who shrank back, not as used to her glare as James clearly was.

"Yes," answered Dumbledore pleasantly. "We appear to have a visitor from the future. This is Harry Potter. He's James' son."

At first, McGonagall looked disbelieving. Then she stared at Harry with a look of anger and told Dumbledore, "Albus, you can't possibly believe this. This is most likely Potter and Black's idea of a prank."

"I'm not lying!" Harry shouted. "I can prove it! Look, I have green eyes, not hazel. And I  
have a scar on my forehead." Harry pushed back his bangs so they could see.

"You can't fake a curse scar like that, Minerva," Dumbledore said quietly.

McGonagall turned to Dumbledore and said in bewilderment, "Albus… how is this possible?"

"I cannot say," Dumbledore gravely replied. "Please ask James Potter to see me, but give me and Harry at least ten minutes or so for us to chat."

McGonagall nodded dazedly, and then left the room.

"Please sit down, Harry," Dumbledore said with a smile. Harry warily sat down, wondering what Dumbledore was going to ask him. "Harry," Dumbledore began, "I would appreciate it if you did not say anything about the future to anybody. Do not even give clues or hint at something, for the consequences could be dire. It is bad enough that a fifteen-year-old is going to meet his own son."

"But what if…" Harry began, but Dumbledore motioned to let him speak.

"It does not matter if you can save someone's life, for you may hurt someone else by  
doing so," said Dumbledore sternly. "You do not know what could happen." Dumbledore  
sighed and adjusted his spectacles. "All James will know is that he has a son named Harry. He will not know who your mother is, or if you have any siblings, or even what he bought you last Christmas. Nothing, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," said Harry meekly, unused to Dumbledore's strict attitude. "But Professor, then why are you going to tell James about me anyway? Shouldn't you just pretend that I'm a foreign exchange student or something?"

"No, I don't believe you will be able to get back to your time until he understands who you are." Harry shrugged figuring Dumbledore knew more about this than he did.

"Now, your father will enter this room in a few minutes, and it would probably be a better idea if you weren't present. The sight of you might shock him. There is a little room to my left where you may sit. I will get you when we are ready. Best to get over there quickly, for James will most likely arrive soon."

Harry nodded and hurried over to the door, quickly stepping into the empty little room and shutting the door behind him. He sat down on the floor, trying to calm his pounding heart.

**HPHPHPHP**

James walked through the corridor towards Dumbledore's office, ignoring the laughter of his friends behind him. He racked his brain, wondering what he could have done wrong this time. He hadn't done anything recently… at least nothing bad enough for a trip to the Headmaster's office…

As he passed the gargoyles and walked up the steps to Dumbledore's office, he began to become nervous. McGonagall had looked like she'd just seen a ghost when she told him Dumbledore wanted to see him. He wondered what could possibly have happened for her to look like that…

He knocked on the door and heard Dumbledore call, "Come in." Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the office. "Hello, James," Dumbledore said kindly. "There is something  
important I have to tell you. Please sit down."

James flopped into a chair, trying to seem nonchalant. "What's going on, Dad?" smiling a little at the nickname Sirius and him had given their Headmaster. "How's Mum?"

"Please do not call Professor McGonagall 'Mum'," Dumbledore said, smiling back at James.

"But I can still call you Dad?" James asked cheekily, now grinning from ear-to-ear.

Dumbledore sighed, seeming to remember why he had called James to his office. "James, something has happened."

James tensed in his chair. Could something have happened to his parents?

"We have a visitor from the future," declared Dumbledore, watching James carefully.

James only stared at him for a second. "Oh, you're trying to make a joke!" he exclaimed suddenly. "Nice try, Dad."

"I am not making a joke," Dumbledore began.

"Yeah, you are!" James said excitedly. "I mean, otherwise, why would you tell me? I'm just a fifth-year Gryffindor! I'm not even a prefect!"

"I am telling you," Dumbledore replied, "because he claims to be your son."

James stared at Dumbledore for a second. "My son?" he asked croakily. "Wait… where  
is he?"

Dumbledore smiled at James, then got up and opened a door to his left that James had  
never even noticed before. "Harry?" Dumbledore said. "You can come out."

Harry scrambled to his feet. He was so nervous; his palms were sweating. He was about to meet his father for the first time! True, James had not seemed like the best person in the Pensieve, but he must be alright… after all, this was his father…

James abruptly stood up when the boy walked into the room. He felt like something was buzzing in his ears; he couldn't think! This boy must be his son. They were nearly identical! James could have been looking in a mirror they were so similar.

Harry couldn't help but gasp a little at seeing his father, but after the initial shock passed, he realized there were some distinct differences. He was slightly taller than James, but you could only notice this if they were standing next to each other. James had hazel eyes and no scar on his forehead. But the biggest difference was the way he was standing. Harry stood there timid and uncertain, while James looked like someone who never doubted anything. He was cocky, even in complete shock.

James stuck out his hand. "I'm James Potter," he declared nervously. Then he grinned. "But you already knew that, huh?"

Harry smiled back at him nervously, taking his hand. A shiver went up his spine. "Yeah, pretty much," he answered. "I'm Harry. Harry Potter."

"James," Dumbledore began, "Harry is going to have to say here for some time while  
we figure out how to get him home. He's going to have to attend classes just like everyone else."

James gaped at him. "Really?" he gasped. "That's – that's brilliant! Wicked! Are you a  
Gryffindor?" he asked suddenly, turning to Harry, his hazel eyes full of hope.

"Yes, of course," Harry answered quickly, watching James' face glow with pride.

"James," Dumbledore said, "Harry is going to stay in your dormitory. Could you please  
notify the rest of the boys? But James," Dumbledore said sternly, as James turned to leave, "Do not tell anyone else. I will make an announcement at dinner tonight, and then Harry can come up to Gryffindor tower. But for now, we have to sort out a few things."

"Yes, sir!" James replied happily, bursting through the door.

"Now then, Harry," Dumbledore said kindly, as Harry stared after James, mesmerized. "Sit down, and let's have a little chat."


	3. Chapter 3

James ran full speed into the common room, skidding to a halt before his three friends.  
"Guys!" he puffed. "C'mon!"

The four boys raced up to the dormitory after James. Sirius cast Muffliato and Peter locked the door.

"Guys!" James exclaimed. "I have a son!"

The other three boys stared at him. "Prongs?" Sirius asked. "Are you okay?"

"I've never been better! Why?" James inquired.

"Mate," Sirius replied, exchanging a look with the other two, "Most people aren't happy to have a son when they're only fifteen."

"Oh, it's not like that!" James laughed. "He came here from the future. He's fifteen, just  
like us. Dumbledore said he has to stay here a while, since they don't know how to get him back. His name's Harry," James said, finally stopping to breathe, "And he looks just like me and he's a Gryffindor too…"

"What do you mean, he has to stay here a while?" Remus asked. "I mean, is he going  
to go to classes and stuff?"

"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "He'll stay in our dormitory and everything!"

Sirius started to grin. "Little Prongs," he laughed.

Peter said what they all were thinking. "This is gonna be brilliant!"

**HPHPHPHP**

"Harry," Dumbledore asked, "Which subjects are you taking?"

Harry was still in a daze. He couldn't believe everything that had happened. James  
hadn't even been scared or nervous; he'd been happy! He must have been wrong about the Pensieve. James was wonderful.

"Harry? What subjects?" Dumbledore questioned, jerking him out of his daydream.

"Er, Care of Magical Creatures," Harry replied, "and –"

But suddenly Harry stopped. He didn't want to take Divination, and after all, they  
couldn't know! He could take Muggle Studies; he knew he'd be great at it. "And Muggle Studies."

Dumbledore looked at him a bit suspiciously, but let it go. "All right then, Harry. Today  
is Wednesday, September 3rd. Are you farther along in the year?"

"Oh yeah," Harry answered.

"So much of what will be taught will be repeated," Dumbledore informed him. "Also,  
Quidditch tryouts are this weekend. Are you interested in joining the team?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, "But how'd you know that? And am I allowed to?"

"Well, your father is very involved in Quidditch. I would not have found it surprising if his  
son was," Dumbledore responded with a smile. "And I think it will be all right. I don't believe a Quidditch position will change the future." He cleared his throat. "Now, after dinner I will come get you, and you can go to Gryffindor Tower. But I am going to tell every student that they are not allowed to ask what happens in the future, and you are not allowed to tell them."  
"Yes, sir," Harry replied. "I promise I won't."

Lily Evans glared at the four Marauders. Peter was fawning over Potter more than  
usual, and even Black looked impressed. Remus, on the other hand, looked rather nervous. They must have done something bad. She hoped that they hadn't been playing tricks on Snape again.

James kept fidgeting in his seat. He couldn't wait for everyone to meet Harry! James  
knew he should be scared or nervous or just weird about the whole thing, but he'd never been happier. He'd always dreamed of having a family. He knew most teenage boys weren't like that, but his parents were so happy… he wanted that more than anything. He'd never told Padfoot that; he would never understand. Sirius hated his family. He'd never told Peter either; Wormtail was terrified of his mum. But he had told Remus. Moony understood. Remus wanted a family more than anything. The sad thing about Remus was that he probably wouldn't get it. Poor Moony didn't have a normal life, and probably never would.

James shook his head, focusing again on his friends. They were such wonderful  
people. He wondered who Harry's mother was. He hoped it was Lily, but he knew chances were slim.

Dumbledore stood up and said, "Attention, please!" The hall quickly grew quiet. Dumbledore hadn't made an announcement since the start-of-term feast. The Marauders exchanged grins, which did not go unnoticed by Lily.

"Please, do not interrupt me," Dumbledore announced calmly. "Earlier today, we were  
visited by a boy from the future. We do not know how to get him home and most likely  
will not know for quite some time. He is a fifth-year Gryffindor, and since he is approaching his O.W.L.s, I believe he needs to continue his education. Now," he continued sternly, "none of you are allowed to ask him anything about the future. All you shall know is the obvious." Dumbledore paused for dramatic effect, smiling a bit.

"James Potter has a son."

**HPHPHPHP**

James had been bombarded with questions. He enjoyed the attention at first, but  
eventually it became a little tiring. He just wanted to see Harry. He kept glancing over at  
the portrait hole.

Finally, the portrait opened, and Harry walked in. Nearly everyone gasped. He was absolutely identical to James! At first there was a stunned silence, and then Sirius jumped up and ran over to Harry, giving him a huge hug. "Little Prongs!" he exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. "He's adorable!"

Harry laughed nervously at Sirius. It was incredible to see him like this. He was so young and happy; his joy was infectious. Harry was a little sad that Sirius had changed so much, but he pushed that out of his head and turned to his father.

James couldn't stop grinning. Harry was so like him. He did seem a little timid, but who  
wouldn't be nervous after traveling back in time and meeting their teenage father?

"I have a question," Wormtail announced, standing up. All heads turned to him. Harry's stomach clenched and he bit his lip. "How are we going to tell you two apart?"

"Good question," praised Sirius, as Peter glowed with pride. He turned to Harry. "Are  
you two different at all?"

"Uh, yeah," answered Harry quickly, jerking his glare away from his father. "I have  
green eyes."

Sirius stared into Harry's eyes. "So you do," he commented. "Anything else?"

"Yeah…" Harry said uncertainly, and then pushed back his bangs. "I have a scar on my  
forehead."

Sirius looked at him curiously. "Where'd ya get that?" he questioned.

"Sirius!" Remus chastised, reminding Harry of Hermione. "You're not supposed to ask him anything about the future!"

"Oh yeah," Sirius replied, startled. "I forgot. Whatever." He turned back to Harry and  
smiled. "So Little Prongs… what classes are you taking?"

Harry pulled his gaze away from James again. The two couldn't top staring at each  
other in amazement. "Umm…" he began, "All the normal ones, and Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies…"

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed. "We're taking that too!" He grinned at Harry. "But I bet you already knew that," he said cheekily, and winked. Harry smiled back, trying to ignore the  
staring eyes.

"Erm, I'm a bit tired," he stated. "I think I'll just go to bed…"

"Oh yeah, I bet you are, with all that time travel and stuff," James blurted. He almost  
kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner. This was his son; he needed to be thinking about Harry all the time! Constantly worrying about whether he was all right… For the first time, James wasn't sure if Harry really was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"Come on, we'll show you our dorm," James told Harry kindly. Harry smiled back  
nervously and followed James and the other Marauders up the stairs.

Harry wasn't anything like Remus had expected. Remus thought James' son would be  
cocky and proud, but Harry wasn't like that. He didn't strut around like he owned the place, and Remus didn't know if Harry had ever even seen a Dungbomb. Truthfully… Remus had never met someone quite like him.

Harry sat on his new bed. Dumbledore had given him all his school supplies and robes. Harry didn't have any other clothes, so James was lending him pajamas. Harry had a feeling he was going to need a lot of things from James. There was a bit of awkwardness in the room. The Marauders didn't really know what to make of Harry, so they pretended he wasn't there for the most part. Harry didn't mind. He was glad for the chance to think. Anyways, what could they possibly talk about? Harry wasn't allowed to tell them anything about the future, and that was all he knew.

At first, he hadn't known if he was going to be able to face Wormtail. He might kill him  
on the spot. But Harry soon realized that he didn't think he would be able to hurt Peter,  
much less kill him. Peter was just a normal boy. In fact, he was a bit like Neville  
Longbottom. But none of the other Marauders looked down on him at all; he was their friend. They trusted him.

Lupin had surprised Harry the most. Harry knew an old man with gray hair and scars  
who always looked sick and tired. But this boy wasn't like that. Sure, he seemed a bit tired, and he did have a decent amount of scars, but he looked so happy. He laughed along with the others, his young face filled with joy.

Sirius had hardly changed at all. The only difference was that the Sirius Harry knew  
was unhappy and depressed, while this Sirius was always jumping with excitement. He didn't seem to know what sadness was.

Everything was moving way too fast. Harry couldn't believe he was here. He wished he  
had spent more time in the common room; he hadn't seen Lily yet.

James plopped himself onto Harry's bed. "So," he began, looking at Harry curiously, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," he stuttered. "I mean, it's eight o'clock on a Wednesday. It's not like we  
have to do something."

"Just because we don't have to something doesn't mean we can't," Sirius smirked. "In  
fact, if we had to do something, I probably wouldn't want to do it."

"Sirius. James. Harry just got blasted from the future and met his teenage father. He must be completely disoriented. Give him time," Remus said kindly, smiling at Harry. Harry smiled back. It was wonderful seeing Lupin in such a good mood. This was the happiest Harry had ever seen him, in fact.

"Fine," James pouted, rolling his eyes and sticking his tongue out at Lupin. "Bloody prefect," he muttered.

"Well, Little Prongs, do you need me to tuck you into bed?" Sirius smirked.

"Oh, shut up," Harry answered good-naturedly. He was so tired. He slipped under the  
covers, grateful for the chance to finally rest…

**HPHPHPHP**

"Wow, Moony, you were right. It hasn't even been five minutes, and he's sound asleep,"  
Sirius said, sounding amazed. "Time travel must take a lot out of you."

"I can't believe he's asleep," James whined. "I want to know more about him. I want to  
know who his friends are, and whether he plays Quidditch, and who his mum is, and what his favorite color is…"

Peter sat up suddenly. "Merlin, I forgot!" he exclaimed. "Harry's got a mom! That  
means Prongs must be married!"

"You just figured that out, Wormtail?" Sirius laughed, grinning at him. "That's the first thing I thought of. We'll never figure it out, though. Harry looks too much like you, James. There isn't any room for anything else."

"He's got green eyes," James pointed out. "So she must have green eyes."

"Not necessarily," Remus began. "See, green is a recessive gene, which may be kept  
hidden under a dominant gene, like hazel or brown…" Remus droned on for a while. The other boys tuned him out.


	4. Chapter 4

"Little Prongs!" Sirius yelled gleefully, jumping up and down on Harry's bed. "Wake up,  
Little Prongs, wake up!"

Harry groaned and rolled over, figuring Fred and George must have wanted to bother  
Ron and didn't mind messing with Harry either. He blearily opened his eyes to see Sirius' young, vibrant face. "Sirius!" he exclaimed, suddenly wide awake as all the events from the other day rushed back at him.

Satisfied that Harry was awake, Sirius ran over to James' bed. "Prongs!" he yelled, jumping up and down. "Prongs, wake up!" James rolled over, covering his head with his pillow. Sirius pushed him off the bed.

"PADFOOT!" James yelled at the top of his lungs, jumping up and chasing Sirius around the room. Sirius yelled gleefully, hopping from bed to bed, not minding that he was stepping all over Remus and Peter, much to their discomfort.

Harry suddenly became aware that the sun wasn't even up yet. "What time is it?" he asked Remus, who had gotten out of bed and started heading towards the bathroom.

"Who knows?" Remus replied, yawning. "Sirius does this every morning. I don't think he sleeps at all. He probably woke you up earlier than usual since he was so excited." He smiled, and then whispered, "If you want a shower, better hurry before Prongs catches Padfoot."

Harry quickly got out of bed, bending down to gather his stuff, when he remembered he didn't have any. Remus quickly realized this and said, "Don't worry, Harry. You can borrow mine." Remus smiled kindly at Harry. Harry grinned back and followed Remus into the bathroom.

**HPHPHPHP**

Lily brushed her hair slowly, taking her time. The other girls were talking excitedly about Harry Potter. She sighed. He was probably as bad as his father. She couldn't believe this had happened. She sighed again, and started to follow the other girls downstairs when her best friend, Annabelle Wood, stopped her.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Annabelle asked, pursing her lips. "This is because of Potter again, isn't it?"

"He's so horrible!" Lily exclaimed. "He acts as though he's so cool, with his stupid Snitch and stupid friends –"

"Lily, you're totally wrong," Annabelle sighed. "First of all, not all of his friends are stupid. Look at Remus! He's a prefect."

Lily rolled her eyes. "That's not surprising. Look at Dumbledore's other choices."

Annabelle ignored this, plowing on. "And he is good at Quidditch. I mean, he shows off a little too much, but he has a reason. My brother's always talking about how fantastic James is."

"But I don't like him!" Lily protested indignantly.

"I didn't say you did. But Lily, you could give him a chance. He's much better than Black, but you never yell at him."

"Whatever," Lily sighed, shaking her head. "Let's go meet Potter squared."

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry walked into the Great Hall, trying to ignore how terrified he was. People stared at him, standing on chairs trying to get a better look, but the Marauders surrounded him. The five boys sat down near the end of Gryffindor table.

"Hey Prongs, look," Sirius said, nodding to his left. "It's Evans."

Harry looked over quickly, and sure enough, there was his mother, talking animatedly with another girl.

James grinned at Sirius. "And Wood," he added, as Sirius smirked. Harry looked at both of them in confusion.

"Lily Evans is the girl James has had a crush on since first year, but she's always hated him," Remus murmured quietly to Harry. "Annabelle Wood is the girl Sirius always goes to when he's bored, but she always turns him down."

Harry stared at James and Sirius as they walked – no, strutted over to Lily and Annabelle.

"Hey, Evans," James said casually, plopping himself next to Lily.

"Hey, Wood," Sirius smirked, elegantly sitting next to Annabelle.

"Go away," Annabelle said, glaring at both of them. "Why do you always have to be like this?"

"Because we know you secretly want us," Sirius quickly replied, scooting closer to her.

"In your dreams," Lily spat.

Afterward, Harry didn't know what made him do it. He just felt so incredibly angry that Sirius and James were acting like this. They were making fools of themselves! Harry wondered why Lily had even married James…

He abruptly stood up and walked toward them. James started to grin as he saw Harry, but it quickly faded when he saw the look on Harry's face.

"Why _do_ you always have to be like this?" Harry asked, repeating Annabelle's question. Sirius could tell Harry was not going to give up. Well, neither was he.

"Little Prongs," Sirius began, his voice full of tension, "Why do you even care?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe because my two idols are acting like idiots!" Harry said, his voice rising, glaring furiously at them. Sirius looked equally outraged, his knuckles turning white.

By then, Remus had joined them. "Sirius, stop," Remus begged, glancing nervously at Harry and Sirius. "James, do something!"

"Padfoot, let's go," James said, standing up. "Padfoot, come on. If you fight him, I can't help you."

Sirius whirled around, staring at James. "What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely.

"He's my son," James pleaded. "Padfoot, let's just go. It isn't worth it."

Sirius stared at James for a second, then abruptly stood up and marched out, Peter getting up and hurrying after him. James followed him with an apologetic glance at Harry. Harry glared back.

Lily looked at Harry curiously. Maybe he wasn't exactly like Potter.

Annabelle smiled at Remus and Harry, who was still staring at where his father had left. "Do you want to sit with us?" she asked them.

Harry jerked out of his reverie, staring at her. Remus smiled and nodded. "That would be great," he answered, pulling Harry down into the seat next to Lily and sitting beside Annabelle.

"You're not very much like your father, are you?" Lily asked Harry, with a strange expression on her face.

Harry thought about this. "I suppose I'm not," he allowed. He looked at her, abruptly realizing whom he was talking to.

"I'm Lily," she smiled. "Lily Evans."

"I'm Harry," he smiled back. "Harry Potter. But you already knew that."

"I'm Annabelle Wood," the other girl said. "You know, I think that's the first time I've ever seen someone stand up to them. Especially Sirius."

"Sirius is not the best at keeping his temper in check," Harry admitted. "But I've never seen him snap at anyone like that… Well," he allowed, "I suppose I have, but never to me."

"He doesn't like being told what to do," Remus sighed. "Neither does James, but at least James can keep his head."

"What class do we have first?" Harry asked, changing the subject. "And who's the teacher?"

"Potions," Annabelle answered. "Slughorn will love you. Especially if you hang out with us."

"Annabelle…" Lily chided, knowing what Annabelle was thinking.

"You know it's true, Lily," Remus said. "You're the best in the class, except maybe for Snape." He turned to Harry, his eyes widening. "You'd better look out, Harry. Snape hates James, and he'll hate you too. You'll probably have to work with him."

"No, I'll work with him," Lily said. "Annabelle can work with Harry." She turned to Harry. "Severus is my best friend, and Potter and Black spend all their time bullying him. It's no wonder he hates them."

"I know," Harry answered. "Believe me, I know."

**HPHPHPHP**

Surprisingly, Harry found Potions much more enjoyable than he had in the past. Slughorn was much more welcoming than Snape ever was, and Harry found it much easier to work without Snape criticizing every little thing he did. Annabelle was very good at Potions, thought not quite up to Lily and Snape's level. Also, since Harry was doing this a second time, everything was very familiar.

Snape looked happy to be working with Lily. They seemed much closer than Harry had realized. He didn't know if this was good or bad.

Remus and Peter had already exploded their potion twice. Harry faintly remembered Lupin telling him he wasn't the best at potion-making a couple of years ago, but Harry didn't know he was _this_ bad. Peter didn't seem to be helping things.

Sirius and James did not seem to be up to their usual standards, judging from Slughorn's disapproval. Harry had a feeling that had something to do with the fact that James kept sending apologetic glances at Harry and Sirius being too rough with all of the ingredients.

Finally, they were out of there. Harry wasn't sure whether he should hang out with James or Lily during the break. Lupin answered this for him by gesturing that he should come with them. Peter nervously made small talk while James and Sirius walked ahead of them. After a while, Harry became sick of this.

"Sirius!" he called. Sirius didn't turn around. "Sirius, come on –"

Sirius whirled around and glared at Harry, but Harry stood his ground. "What is the matter with you?" Sirius hissed. "Are you a Marauder or not?"

Harry simply looked at him. "If being a Marauder means being cruel to people for no good reason, then no, I'm not a Marauder."

"Sirius, back off," James began, but Sirius cut him off.

"What, James? Going to give me a lecture on morals? You're one to talk."

James stared at Sirius. Padfoot had never said anything mean to him. Ever. It was always Padfoot and Prongs. They were never separate and never got mad at each other. He could hardly believe this was happening. What did Sirius expect him to do, betray his own son? From the look on Sirius' face, that's what it looked like.

"James?" Harry asked quietly. James looked away. Sirius was his best friend. He'd never even met Harry before. He felt terrible when he saw the pain on Harry's face.

"Fine," Harry said abruptly. "I'll see you later." He ran to catch up to Annabelle and Lily. Sirius stared after him. He hadn't expected Little Prongs to leave… Maybe he was more upset than Sirius had thought.

Belatedly, James realized Harry had called him James instead of Dad.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi Lily," Harry said. "Hey Annabelle."

Lily could tell immediately that something had happened. "Harry, what's wrong?" Annabelle looked at him, her face full of concern.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Sirius and I got into an argument. It's nothing."

"What did James say?" Annabelle asked. "Did he stick up for you?"

"Er…" Harry really didn't want to talk about this. "He did at first…"

"But when Sirius put pressure on him he caved, didn't he?" Annabelle finished. Harry nodded mutely.

"I hate him," Lily exclaimed. "He thinks he can do whatever he wants and doesn't even stick up for his own son – "

"Lily, it isn't his fault," Harry protested. "Remus didn't do anything either, and you don't think there's anything wrong with him." Harry checked his watch. "Don't we have to go to class? What do we have next?"

"History of Magic with Binns," Annabelle sighed.

"Well," Harry said tiredly, "At least I can get some sleep."

**HPHPHPHP**

Sirius and James looked incredibly guilty, especially James. They both stared at Harry morosely for at least ten minutes before Remus hissed, "Just tell him you're sorry and be done with it!"

So James and Sirius spent the next twenty minutes writing as many apologies as they possible could. They had about a hundred sheets of parchment by the time they were done. Then they levitated them over Harry's sleeping head and dropped them.

Harry was happily dreaming about when the Number 4, Privet Drive had been stuffed with as many copies as possible of Harry's Hogwarts letter when he finally woke up to find that he really was covered in paper. He read a couple of them and realized that they were all letters from James and Sirius apologizing. They went something like this:

_I suppose I must be sorry… after all, I feel guilty…_

**Whatever Sirius said.**

_I still think I was perfectly in the right, but you are James' son, so I guess not much can be expected of you…_

**I'm terrible father. I'm a shame to mankind.**

Harry couldn't help but laugh. He turned around and smiled at James and Sirius. James seemed as though he was going to faint from nervousness and Sirius looked reluctantly shameful. As soon as they noticed he was smiling, they let out sighs of relief. Remus winked. Harry turned around and went back to sleep.

**HPHPHPHP**

"Harry's pretty nice, isn't he?" Lily asked Remus as they patrolled the corridors together. Remus didn't answer. She poked him. "Remus?"

Remus jerked out of his reverie. "What?" he asked Lily. "Did you say something?" Remus sighed to himself. He had less than a week until the full moon. His tiredness was showing.

"I asked you if you thought Harry was nice," Lily repeated, studying him carefully. Why was Remus always sick?

"Oh… yeah, he's pretty cool," Remus agreed. "Nothing like James, that's for sure."

"That might be a good thing," Lily laughed.

"Yeah," Remus replied, stifling a yawn.

Lily was really worried about Remus. She knew what Severus thought was wrong with him, but she certainly didn't believe it… but what were the other possibilities? No one was sick this often. She sighed and shook her head. It wasn't like her to worry about people so much. That was Annabelle's job. Lily was the practical one, who always proved that everything would be okay. But what if it wasn't?

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry walked upstairs to the dormitory. It had been a long day, and he and Annabelle had only just finished their Potions homework. He knew he shouldn't have wasted so much time goofing off with James and Sirius, but he couldn't help it.

James and Sirius had decided the Potions essay was a lost cause a long time ago and had gone upstairs to the dormitory. Harry didn't know when they would get all their work done, but he had decided to let it go.

Today had been a pretty good day. Transfiguration was more enjoyable with James and Sirius. It was a more lighthearted atmosphere. Care of Magical Creatures was easy compared to some of the stuff Harry'd dealt with in the past. Charms was mostly the same, and so was Herbology. He couldn't wait for Defense Against the Dark Arts tomorrow – it was the one class he knew he'd be good at. In Muggle Studies, he had known everything. He wished he had taken it back in third year; it was the easiest class he'd ever taken. Remus and Peter didn't seem to have too much trouble with it either, since they were both half-bloods, but James and Sirius didn't understand a thing. Still, Remus had told Harry that they would do brilliant anyway. They always did.

Harry walked into the dormitory. James, Sirius, and Peter had been huddled on Remus' bed, whispering about something. The second he walked in, they abruptly stopped talking.

He stared at them. "What's up?" he asked cautiously. They stared at him for a second, and then started frantically whispering again, so quickly Harry could hardly make it out. He only heard a few phrases like "Should we tell him?" and "He probably already knows!" Finally, they turned to him.

"Harry," James said gravely. "There's something you should know."

"What is it?" Harry asked nervously.

James took a deep breath. "Our dear friend, Remus…" he hesitated, and glanced at the other two. "He's a vampire."

The three boys looked at Harry very seriously as he stared at them in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Harry, I know this is hard to understand," James said gently. "But he really is. He has different needs than we do. Now, I am begging you not to betray him."

"Are you joking or something?" Harry asked, bewildered. "Remus isn't a vampire. He _is_ a werewolf, but you already knew that…."

"You already knew? Oh good, that makes things so much easier," Sirius exclaimed, grinning. "See, we were just trying to test you, Harry. We figured if you stopped being friends with Remus because he's a vampire, then you wouldn't be friends with him if he was a werewolf either. So we wouldn't tell you that he was a werewolf if you were prejudiced because he was a vampire."

Harry waited a beat, letting their idiocy sink in. "Oh, great plan," said Harry sarcastically. "No really, I mean that. Brilliant. That was a complete waste of time. I'm going to bed."

"No, wait!" Peter stopped him. "There's more to it than that…" he trailed off uncertainly, glancing at Sirius and James. James stood up.

"Harry," he began, "When Remus transforms, it isn't easy. He gets hurt. And we don't like it when our friends get hurt. So we decided we had to do something –"

"So you became Animagi. I already know all of this," Harry said impatiently.

"We actually manage it?" Peter gasped, his mouth hanging open. Even though they were so close, he still didn't think it was possible. It still seemed so unreal.

Harry blushed, realizing he had told them about the future. Not something very important, since they were obviously close, but still. He tried to shrug it off. "Anything else you want to tell me that I already know?"

"Well," Sirius began, "I don't think you already know this…" He looked at James. James nodded. "The full moon is in on Monday. And guess what? It's not gonna be pretty."

**HPHPHPHP**

"Your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Hughes. Aren't you excited?" Sirius happily asked Harry. Sirius was practically skipping as they made their way to class.

"Why should I be excited?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Little Know-it-all Prongs doesn't know Professor Hughes! How can this be? I thought you knew everything!" Sirius gasped, feigning shock.

Remus walked into the door to the classroom.

"Moony, were you sleepwalking again?" James demanded as Remus blearily opened his eyes, rubbing his head. "You're going to fall down the stairs if you keep that up."

"'M fine," Remus mumbled, opening the door and walking through. The other boys followed him.

Lily and Annabelle were already sitting in their seats in the second row. Harry thought that was odd. In every other class they sat in the front. Harry's question was answered when Sirius happily plopped down as close to the teacher's desk as possible. Harry smiled at Lily and Annabelle. Lily smiled back at him distractedly while Annabelle winked. Harry didn't know why she was winking at him, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. He sat down between Sirius and Remus (who was sleeping soundly already), waiting for Professor Hughes. Five minutes passed, and Harry wondered if this was normal. "Is he always this late?" he asked Sirius.

"Sometimes late, sometimes early," Sirius sang. James rolled his eyes.

"Professor Hughes is a bit… dramatic," James told Harry, smirking a little.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Everyone jumped (Peter fell right out of his chair) except for Remus and Sirius. Remus was still asleep, and Sirius was nearly standing on the desk, trying to see where the noise had come from, a huge grin on his face.

"Mr. Padfoot, you can sit down," laughed a young man from the back of the room. Everyone turned around to look at him, knowing he hadn't been there a second ago. Harry knew this must be Professor Hughes.

Harry didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. Professor Hughes looked like he a teenager, like any other kid at Hogwarts. He had hair long enough to cover his ears, but not as long as Sirius'. He was incredibly skinny and looked as though he never stopped smiling. He was average height, but something about him made you feel smaller. There was something about him that made you want to be his friend, or at least to simply know him. Harry didn't know what it was, but he liked Professor Hughes.

"Hi Professor!" Sirius exclaimed. "I've missed you so much!"

"Mr. Black," Professor Hughes said sternly, "You saw me last Tuesday. And I told you not to act so insane, or people will find out you really are crazy. How would you like that, hmm?"

Sirius gasped and fell over. "That's what I thought," Professor Hughes murmured. He strolled to the front of the room and sat down on Harry's desk.

"So you're Harry Potter," he commented dryly.

"Yes," Harry answered nervously.

"Isn't he great, Professor?" Sirius asked, grinning.

"I have a question, Mr. Potter," Professor Hughes continued, ignoring Sirius. "Just out of curiosity… if you were in a House other than Gryffindor, which would you choose?"

Harry looked at James with a cunning look in his eyes. "Personally," he began, "I think I'd like to be a Slytherin."

Harry had to be kidding. He had to be. James started to laugh. "No, really, what House?" he asked, trying to ignore the nervous edge in his voice.

Harry was kidding, but he wasn't going to tell James that. "I really do wish I was a Slytherin, James," Harry said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"But why?" Sirius asked, flabbergasted. "What possible reason could you have for wanting to be a Slytherin?"

"Same reason you wanted to be a Gryffindor." When Sirius looked confused, Harry continued, "To make my parents mad."

Professor Hughes grinned, and then stood up. "Okay you guys!" he shouted, clapping his hands. "We've got a lot to do. We're going to learn about boggarts. I'd like to talk about the theory in defeating them first, before we actually try to take one on, all right? Okay. So do you any of you even know what a boggart is?"

**HPHPHPHP**

The five boys sat in their dormitory, mostly in silence. Peter and Sirius were playing wizards' chess, and as usual, Peter was winning. Harry and Remus were studying, whispering quietly to each other. Since Remus had slept most of the day, he had to learn the things he'd missed. James couldn't stop thinking about what Harry had said. Slytherin? Why would he want to be a Slytherin? And more importantly, why was he so determined to make James mad? Was James a bad father?

"Harry," Remus whispered, "I think you should tell him you don't really want to be a Slytherin. James is freaking out."

Harry looked over to James. He was sitting by the window, his hands on his knees, staring outside. There was a frightened expression on his face. "Yeah, I suppose so," Harry allowed, staring to get up. Then he stopped. "Wait, how'd you know I was joking?"

Remus looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. "I've gotten pretty good at knowing when someone's being pranked, living with these three." Harry grinned.

Harry walked over toward where James was sitting. "Hey," he said, casually leaning against the wall. James looked up at him. "Hey," James replied awkwardly. "Harry… did you mean what you said about wanting to be a Slytherin?"

"Nope," Harry said. "Of course not." He smirked at James, looking more like his father than ever before in his life. "I just decided you should get tricked once in a while too."


	6. Chapter 6

"Sev, he's not like James at all," Lily pleaded.

"James?" Severus snarled. "Since when do you call him James?"

"Since there've been two Potters walking around! If I say Potter, they both think I'm talking to them!" Lily yelled exasperatedly. "And Harry is different. I swear he is."

"I'm sure," Severus laughed, but it was not a happy one. He thought one Potter was bad; now there were two? And Lily actually liked Harry… it wouldn't be long before she liked James too, and pushed Severus aside. No, he couldn't let that happen.

"Sev, I know James Potter. Just because I'm friends with his son doesn't mean I'm going to forget everything he's done to you."

Severus looked at her, hearing the truth in her voice. He sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'll give this Harry Potter a chance."

**HPHPHPHP**

"Guys! Wake up, come on! Quidditch tryouts are today! I'm Captain! Oh man, what if I screw this up? Come on, get up already!"

Harry blearily opened his eyes, looking at his alarm clock. "James," Peter groaned from the other side of the room, "It's not even four."

"I can't sleep!" James exclaimed.

"I can help you with that," Remus growled. "Someone get me something large and heavy to hit him with."

"Moony, why are you always so irritable right before the full moon?" Sirius asked conversationally.

"Guys!" James whined. "Come on, get up!"

Harry remembered he still hadn't told James he wanted to try out for the team. Well, if he had waited this long, he might as well wait a bit longer…

James groaned in defeat. "I'm going to the pitch to practice," he muttered. The second he left the room, Harry got up.

"Sirius!" he hissed. "What position does James play?"

"Chaser," Sirius replied, wondering why Harry didn't already know.

"Brilliant," Harry whispered. "Sirius, do you have a broom I could borrow?" Sirius stared at him for a moment before understanding.

"Of course."

"Listen up!" James yelled at the group that had gathered. "Let's try out the Chasers first please! Then we'll do the Beaters, then Keeper, then Seeker!"

James looked in the stands. Some of the Gryffindors had come, including Lily and Annabelle. He wondered why they were here; neither was a huge fan of Quidditch. Probably Harry asked them.

Speaking of Harry… James didn't see him. Sirius and Peter were there, laughing at something, and Remus was there, asleep against Sirius' shoulder. So where was Harry?

The Chasers were quickly over with. James chose one third-year girl Remus used to tutor named Adeline Philips, and a fourth-year boy who had been on the team last year named Cadell Silsbury. "All right!" he called out. "Beaters!"

Most of the time, Beaters were boys. Boys just tended to find hitting things more fun than girls did. But James picked two second year girls, Linette Meath and Jinelle Anderson. They were unstoppable. He'd never seen anything like them.

Then came the Keepers. James wasn't surprised to see that Frank Longbottom was trying out. He did every year, but he had never made the team. This year, Remus had thought he might not, since he was Head Boy and it was his N.E.W.T. year. But he had come anyway.

James was a bit astonished to see that Frank was doing very well. James wanted to pick him; but Cole Ward, a sixth year, was just as good and didn't have Head Boy duties to worry about. Frank didn't seem upset. He just walked over to his girlfriend, Alice, and they headed back up to the castle.

"Seekers!" he called out, bracing himself. He was probably going to have to pick the Seeker from last year, Drew McLaggen. McLaggen was an annoying git, but he was good. Only three people had bothered to try out this year. One was McLaggen, of course; the other was the most uncoordinated second-year he'd ever seen, and last was Harry.

James was shocked. Harry hadn't told him he played Quidditch! James was excited at first, but then he got nervous. What if Harry wasn't that good? He didn't want to pick McLaggen, but if McLaggen was better it wouldn't be fair otherwise.

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry waited nervously for James to call the Seekers. It was funny – he'd never actually had to try out before for the Quidditch team. The boy next to him seemed incredibly cocky. Harry had a feeling he'd been on the team last year. Harry tried to calm down. This was Quidditch! He was so good at flying he'd been picked in his first year. He had nothing to worry about.

**HPHPHPHP**

James really had been worried about nothing. Harry was the best Seeker he'd ever seen, definitely much better than McLaggen! McLaggen was seething. He stomped over to James and started screaming about how it was favoritism. Sirius promptly walked over and hexed him. Annabelle spent the next half hour yelling about how if he was going to hex someone; it might as well be someone who wasn't in Gryffindor. Sirius just laughed. Lily sighed, congratulated Harry, and dragged Annabelle back up to the castle.

James looked at Sirius and Peter, realizing something was missing. "Guys, where's Moony?" he asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Sirius shrugged.

"I think he's still up in the stands," Peter said timidly, pointing up where you could clearly see Remus' sleeping form. James sighed.

"Guys, go get him. I have to talk to my team." James messed up his hair and sighed. Sirius and Peter could be so oblivious sometimes. Honestly, who left one of their best mates sleeping up in the Quidditch stands?

"All right, team!" he called confidently. "Let's practice every Tuesday and Thursday for now, shall we? Great. I'll see you then." He grinned at Harry, motioning Harry to follow him.

"I didn't know you played Quidditch," James said happily. "You should've told me."

Harry shrugged. "I wanted it to be a surprise, I guess," he replied. "And anyway, I can't get two words in the way Sirius babbles on."

James laughed. He was beginning to think that Harry was really just like him.

**HPHPHPHP**

"Moony sleeps like the dead," Sirius complained, lying on Remus' bed, since Remus was on Peter's, since Peter was writing a letter to his mum. "He's never any fun when the full moon's close."

"That might have something to do with how he's going to turn into a vicious animal," James said sarcastically. "But I don't know. Just a guess."

Sirius threw a pillow at Harry, thinking he was James. "Hey!" Harry protested. "What was that for?"

Sirius stared at him, and then realized he'd thrown the pillow at the wrong person. "Oh. I thought you were Prongs." Harry shook his head and went back to the work he was doing. It wasn't hard, since he'd already covered most of the work they were doing in class. But he wanted to keep up with it. He didn't want to worry about something like schoolwork when he was trying to focus on his father.

Sirius studied Harry intently. Harry was so similar to James, but so different at the same time. They looked identical, and both were smart and good at Quidditch, but Harry didn't seem like the type who would pick on Snape the way James and Sirius did. In fact, Harry would probably tell them off.

Suddenly, Lily and Annabelle walked in the room. All the boys looked up (except Remus, who had begun snoring) and their mouths all dropped open except for Harry. "Hey," Harry said. "What's up?"

"Hi Harry," Lily said, smiling. "We were wondering if you and Remus wanted to play Gobstones with us…" her voice trailed off as she noticed Remus sleeping soundly on Peter's bed. "Gosh, Remus sleeps a lot, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but, um, I could play Gobstones with you Lily!" James said, trying to keep the nervous tremor out of his voice. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Not in a million years, Potter."

Harry studied her curiously. She was being a bit harsh on James. After all, Sirius was usually the cause of trouble, and she never yelled at him. That seemed to be Annabelle's job.

Sirius decided to change the subject. "Isn't Professor Hughes great?" he asked Harry, his eyes full of excitement.

"I hate him!" Annabelle exclaimed. "Rhett is so annoying!"

"Why is he annoying?" Harry asked, surprised by her strong reaction. And the fact that she had called him by his first name. Who does that?

"They're cousins," Lily explained. "He only graduated a couple of years ago."

"I think he's awesome!" Sirius protested. "He always used to help us with pranks, Prongs, remember?"

"Yeah," Annabelle grumbled. "He helped you prank me."

"That was great," Sirius sighed, remembering.

Harry laughed at the annoyed expression on Annabelle's face. "Annabelle, chill," he said. "Breathe. In and out. You can do it."

Annabelle stuck her tongue out at him. "Do you want to play Gobstones or not?"

"Sure," he said, still laughing a little. The three walked down the stairs, discussing the Quidditch tryouts. James felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he watched them go.

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry lay on Sirius' bed, thinking about Remus. He knew the other three boys were too, because they were hardly having any conversation and all seemed very solemn, which was unlike them. Remus had gone to the hospital wing just before lunch, and he didn't seem well at all. Peter, Sirius, and James kept exchanging looks. Harry got more and more nervous.

"Guys?" he asked nervously. The three turned to look at him. Peter jumped a little. "Remus… how bad is he gonna be?"

James felt a sinking feeling in his stomach; similar to the one he had felt when Harry had walked off with Annabelle and Lily. Of course, Harry didn't know. He'd probably never really seen Remus after a transformation. After all, Harry was fifteen. No fifteen-year-old deserved to see one of his father's best friends like that, and James certainly wouldn't have allowed him to. "He's gonna be pretty bad off, Harry."

Sirius had noticed another similarity between James and Harry. They both cared about their friends very much, and it killed them when they couldn't help Remus.

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry couldn't sleep. He just kept thinking about Remus. He was probably in so much pain. James was in bed like Harry, but Harry knew he wasn't sleeping either. Sirius was pacing, muttering angrily. Peter was the only one who appeared to be asleep, but he was tossing and turning.

James looked at the clock. It was seven in the morning. "C'mon guys," he said quietly. "Madam Pomfrey might let us in now."

He shook Peter awake, and the four boys walked downstairs. Lily and Annabelle were already up and doing homework in the common room. They looked up in surprise to see the boys up so early – their first class didn't start until nine – but none of the boys acknowledged either of them.

Remus lay in the hospital wing. He felt a wave of relief that it hadn't been so bad last night. He didn't want Harry to see him looking too terrible, since Harry probably wasn't used to it.

"Remus?" Madam Pomfrey walked over to him. "The boys are outside. Do you want me to let them in?"

Remus wondered why she asked this question every time. He always said yes.

Sirius and James walked in first, practically running. Peter wasn't far behind. Remus heard their sighs of relief as they realized it wasn't too bad.

Harry walked in slowly. He was shocked by what he saw. Remus' left arm was broken, and there were scratches all over his face. He knew there were probably scratches all over the rest of his body too, but he couldn't see those. He had a black eye, and it looked like he had a sprained ankle. And the others had looked _relieved_?

"Any ribs broken?" Sirius asked casually, as though it was no big deal.

"Only one," Remus answered, wincing. He looked at Harry, who was still a few feet from the bed. "Harry… it's all right."

"No," James said, "It's not." He sat on Remus' bed, playing with the sheets absentmindedly. Then he abruptly looked up at Harry. "But there's nothing you can do."

Harry stared at his father. James looked so old, like he'd seen more than Harry would ever imagine. But Harry knew this wasn't true. And he knew there was nothing he could do about Remus' condition.

"Maybe so," he said. Then he smiled. "But there's something you can."


	7. Chapter 7

Lily and Severus sat in the library, quietly working on their Potions essays. Severus abruptly closed his book and looked at Lily. "What?" she asked, when he didn't say anything.

"Lupin was sick again."

Lily sighed. She didn't believe Severus' theory that Remus was a werewolf. She was getting tired of arguing about it. "Do we have to talk about this tonight? Can't it wait?"

Severus stared at her, and then opened his book again.

"Lily?"

Lily and Severus turned around. The two of them immediately glared and Lily started to say, "What – ?" in an annoyed tone until they realized it was Harry, not James.

"Harry! Sorry… um… what's up?" she asked awkwardly.

"I was just wondering if you could help me with the Potions essay," he asked carefully.

"Shouldn't you already know everything?" Severus asked shrewdly. "Aren't you farther ahead in the year?"

Harry paused. "Well," he said, "I've never been that great at Potions. The only thing I'm good at is Quidditch really."

Severus rolled his eyes. Harry seemed to be just like his father… obsessed with Quidditch. He didn't know why Lily thought he was any different.

"Of course we'll help you," Lily said, smiling at Harry, admiring how humble he was. "And I'm sure you're good at other things than Quidditch." She narrowed her eyes. "I'm sure all your father's ever talked about is how great he is, so it's not surprising you have a low self-esteem – "

"Why do you hate him so much?" Harry interrupted, staring at her intently. He just didn't understand how she could go from hating him to marrying him…

"Isn't it obvious?" Severus said, the superior tone in his voice evident. "He's an arrogant toerag."

Lily snorted. "Hey, that's my insult," she laughed.

"Seriously!" Lily and Severus stared at Harry. "Why do so many people seem to hate him?"

Lily could tell Harry was really upset. She supposed she would be too.

"It's just… he claims he's in love with me. He's been asking me out nearly every day since first year. But I'm just some prize to him. Even if I did go out with him – which I never would – he would just break up with me because he'd get bored. It's the idea of going out with me he's in love with, not me," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's just going to marry some pureblood, and she'll probably be incredibly annoying –"

"That's not true!"

When the two stared at him in surprise, remembering he was James' son and certainly knew more about his own mother than either of them did, he muttered, "My mother was Muggle-born."

"'Was'?" Severus asked immediately. "As in, she's dead?"

Harry stared at them in shock. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about the future," he murmered. "Oh, no…"

"It's okay," Lily said quickly. "We won't tell anyone." She paused and then said, "Let's look at that Potions essay…"

**HPHPHPHP**

As Lily got ready for bed, she thought about how terrible it was for Harry, not having a mother. Especially with James Potter as a father… Harry probably took care of himself most of the time. James didn't know how to take care of a kid. Well, maybe James learned. Actually, he was probably a decent father, since Harry clearly loved him. She wondered about the girl who had won James' heart… Well, it was just proof that James didn't love her.

She didn't even consider the idea that it could be her.

**HPHPHPHP**

Snape walked back to the Slytherin common room. Harry certainly wasn't exactly like James, but Snape wasn't sure he liked him either. He tended to hate most Gryffindors on principle, but Lily had really wanted him to try and give Harry a chance… Well, he had, hadn't he? Harry hadn't done anything amazing… but then again, neither had Snape.

**HPHPHPHP**

Regulus Black followed Snape back to their common room. He couldn't believe Snape still talked to that Mudblood girl. And on top of that, he had acted friendly to Harry Potter! Regulus needed to have a talk with Snape. It was his duty as a fellow Slytherin, after all… and this could be the perfect opportunity to mess with his favorite brother.

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Everyone else was already asleep. He just kept thinking of the pity on Lily's face when she found out his mother was dead… She had no idea about anything.

Unfortunately, Harry never got the chance to actually fall asleep, because at exactly midnight Sirius jumped up from his bed and started running around the room, yelling, "Guys! Guys, get up! Come on! It's morning! What a great day!"

Harry was sitting up straight in his bed, looking blearily confused. The other boys were still sleeping. Sirius sighed. "They don't even wake up anymore," he told Harry. "Nobody appreciates a nice morning like this one."

"You can hardly call this morning," a voice came muffled from James' bed. Prongs sat up. "Padfoot, give him a break."

Sirius laughed. "Good one, Prongs," he chortled. "Real funny."

"Hogsmeade trip is coming up," James said suddenly, looking excited. "Do you think Lily will go with me?"

"No."

"Cause I really think we've been getting along this year."

"No, Prongs."

"I mean, sure, we've had a few fights, but they haven't been as bad as usual, and –"

"If that's not as bad as usual, what's usual?" Harry asked incredulously.

James noticed that Harry seemed to have a tendency to say things that sounded like a joke, but you couldn't be sure. James had a feeling they usually weren't.

An awkward silence followed. This seemed to have been happening more and more lately, and Sirius didn't like it at all. He had expected Harry to be fun and mischievous and happy, just like Prongs. But he wasn't. He wasn't anything like Prongs. And Sirius didn't think that was a good thing.

**HPHPHPHP**

"Snape."

Severus looked over at little Regulus Black. Despite being only a third year, Regulus had quickly climbed to the top of the social ladder that was so important to Slytherins. Severus was surprised he was bothering to talk to him. He never had before.

"Yes?"

He probably wanted help with his Potions homework or something. But even that wouldn't make sense… Regulus was smart, maybe even smarter than him despite being a year younger. In fact, Regulus as good at practically everything… Quidditch, school, friends… what could he possibly want?

Regulus grinned at him, shocking Severus a little. "Want to get a little revenge?"

Severus stared. "On who?"

Regulus lowered his voice a little bit, scooting into the chair across from Severus. Severus didn't think this was necessary – after all, there were only a couple of first-years hanging out in the common room – but he supposed his quiet tone just meant it was really important.

"On my brother and those idiot friends of his, of course," Regulus practically whispered. "Who else?"

Severus couldn't believe his luck. Little Black wanted revenge? If Severus had his help, he would have the help of the entire House.

"Do you have a plan?"

Regulus grinned again. "Of course."

**HPHPHPHP**

"This is turning out to be the weirdest year yet," Lily commented as she patrolled the fourth floor with Remus.

Remus laughed. "Oh yeah," he said. "I mean, it's only a little strange when James' son decides to visit from the future…"

Lily giggled. "Yeah, just a little." She paused and then said, "I really like him. Harry."

Remus looked at her, raising his eyebrows. "Lily, you're old enough to be his mother."

"Not like that!" She swatted his arm. He just chuckled. "I mean it, though. The more time I spend with him, the more time I want to spend with him. He's much better than James; you can hardly tell they're related they act so different."

Remus thought about this. "They're more alike than you think," he said quietly. "I think Harry's just more mature in some ways, while James is more mature in others. Harry is simpler and doesn't worry about what others think about him as much. But James seems happier with himself. I don't think Harry has a lot of joy in his life."

Lily paused, frowning. "But that isn't true," she said slowly. "Maybe the part about Harry, but James… he doesn't care what other people think, or he wouldn't act like such an idiot."

Remus peered at her curiously. "Maybe," he countered, "He cares so much about what other people think that he has to act like an idiot."

Lily stared at him, confused. "I don't know what you mean," she said slowly.

Remus cleared his throat. "Well," he began, "Even though James acts all stuck-up around you, he's completely different when it's just us or when he's with his parents. When he's hanging out with us, he knows we care about him and that we like him for who he is. He's much nicer and funnier and more… innocent, I suppose. When he's with his parents, he's respectful and caring. He does most of the work in his house, you know," Remus said. "His parents are both pretty old, so he has a lot of responsibilities."

"But then why does he act like such a prat around me?"

Remus stared at her like she was stupid. "Because he _likes_ you, Lily."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he does. He likes you a lot. He just doesn't know how to show it."

Lily sniffed. She didn't believe one word of that was true, but after all, Remus was James' friend, and he was going to stick up for his mate. "All right, Remus. Whatever you say."

**HPHPHPHP**

"James?"

James looked up from his homework. Remus was out patrolling with Lily, and Peter and Sirius had detention again for who-knows-what. "What's up, Harry?"

Harry bit his lip nervously. "Why does Lily hate you so much?"

James stared at him. "That's an excellent question," he said slowly. "I really don't know."

Harry kept looking at him, even though James had started doing his homework again. He knew James was lying, and he had a feeling James wasn't going to tell him why. That meant the other boys wouldn't either. He didn't know if Lily would, and he didn't think he wanted her to tell him – she'd probably make it sound worse than it was. That only left one person.

**HPHPHPHP**

"Professor Hughes?"

Rhett Hughes didn't even look up from the papers he was grading. "Yes, my favorite Slytherin?" he asked mildly.

"I only said that as a joke, Professor. I don't really want to be in Slytherin."

Rhett looked up, smiling. "I figured. What's up?"

"Why does Lily hate James so much?"

Rhett was rather impressed. Harry had gotten straight to the point, and didn't even look that nervous. Perhaps he was used to asking his teachers strange questions.

"Have you asked James that question?" he asked, subtracting a point from Annabelle's paper for messy handwriting. Harry noticed this and frowned, since Annabelle had the neatest handwriting in the class and nobody else ever lost points because of that, but he figured it was a family thing and shrugged it off.

"Yeah. But he won't tell me, and I need to know."

Rhett smiled a bit. He remembered being a teenager, thinking you had to know everything… actually, he was still a teenager, since he didn't turn twenty until November, but that wasn't the point.

"And why do you need to know so badly?"

Harry paused. "I can't tell you."

Rhett looked up in surprise. Harry's tone was deadly serious. "You mean… something about the future?"

Harry didn't say anything.

Rhett sighed. Boy, this kid could really make you feel like an old man…

"The story is," he began, "Potter, Black, Evans and that Slytherin boy… What's his name?"

"Snape?"

"That's the one! Well, they were on the Hogwarts Express in their first year, and Potter and Black insulted Snape because that's what they do. She got angry, of course. So they didn't exactly start off on the right foot."

Harry listened intently. This wasn't surprising, but it didn't seem that bad either.

"Potter decided that night that he really liked Evans, and Black bet  
Potter twenty galleons that Potter couldn't get Evans to go out with him. Potter accepted and tried everything he could. He was actually quite charming; she was really beginning to like him, according to Annabelle."

"So what happened?" Harry asked, confused.

Rhett sighed. "Well, it was mostly my fault. Black asked me, the responsible prefect, how he could stop Potter from winning twenty galleons… and I told him all he had to do was tell Evans about the bet."

Rhett sucked in a breath. "I still feel a little guilty. Potter was pretty close," he admitted. "But Black told Evans, and she's hated Potter ever since."

"Why would she be mad?" Harry asked, confused. "It doesn't seem that bad…"

"That," Rhett said, picking up his quill, "Is something you have to ask a girl."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey Annabelle?"

Annabelle had been lying on her back on the floor of the common room, reading her Potions textbook upside down. "Hey Harry," she said, smiling at him. "What's up?"

Harry lay down next to her, very aware of the group of first-years staring at them with wide eyes. "Why is Lily mad at James?"

"I can't tell you that Harry," Annabelle said carefully.

"Well, I already know the story," said Harry hurriedly. "I just don't know why she would be mad that James and Sirius made a bet…" He trailed off, noticing the furious look in her face.

"Who told you the story?" she demanded. Harry looked nervous.

"Er… it wasn't James!" he said quickly.

"It was Sirius, wasn't it?" Annabelle growled, starting to sit up. "I hate him so much!"

"It wasn't Sirius either!" Harry exclaimed, starting to panic. How was he going to tell her it was the one person she hated even _more_ than Sirius?

"Who was it, then?" Annabelle asked suspiciously, settling back down. Her eyes narrowed. "It was Rhett, wasn't it?"

Harry didn't say anything. Annabelle sighed. "Well, at least he told you what really happened," she mumbled. "If there's one thing about Rhett, it's that he hardly ever lies."

"So why is Lily so mad?" Harry pressed. Annabelle gave him a hard look.

"Wouldn't you be mad if you thought this awesome guy liked you, and then it all turned out to be a joke?" she snapped, getting up and stomping off to the girls' dormitories. Harry didn't move from the floor, and kept thinking about that.

"Yes, I would be mad," he said quietly to himself. "But what if it was only a joke to Sirius, not James?"

Suddenly, Harry's dramatic whisper was interrupted by a tall seventh-year wearing a Head Boy badge. "Hey," the boy said, "Are you going to lie there all day?"

Harry looked up, seeing it was the same boy who had reprimanded him for Dungbombs his first day here. The boy stuck out his hand, and Harry took it and pulled himself up.

"Sorry about the other day," the boy said politely. "Thought you were your father." He squinted at him. "Wow, the two of you are really similar."

"Yeah, I've been told," Harry muttered, embarrassed. "I'm Harry Potter."

The boy grinned. "I know," he said, "I'm Frank Longbottom."

Harry stared. Frank Longbottom? As in, Neville's dad? No wonder he recognized him; Neville had the same sort of face. He looked so young and happy compared to the old man Harry had seen in St. Mungo's…

"Anyways," Frank said, "I'll see you around, Harry." He walked over to a pretty girl in the corner of the common room, sat down next to her, and kissed her on the cheek. Harry immediately knew this was Neville's mother. He felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he remembered the fate they suffered.

**HPHPHPHP**

"Hey Harry, can you help me with the Muggle Studies homework?" Peter asked distractedly. The Marauders had quickly figured out that Harry, for whatever reason, knew a great deal about Muggles. He kept correcting Professor Burbage, the Muggle Studies teacher.

"It's pronounced 'television,'" he'd mutter. "Not 'telly-vizon.'"

It wasn't surprising that Professor Burbage was getting things wrong – after all, she was a half-blood and grew up in the wizarding world – but it was very surprising how good Harry was at this. After all, James was his father, and James hardly knew anything about Muggles. But Harry had gotten mad when they asked him about that, so they stopped thinking about it.

"Peter, it's really better if you do it yourself," Harry said patiently. "You'll learn better that way." He was beginning to sound like Hermione.

"Aw, Harry!"

Harry sighed. "What do you need help with?" he asked resignedly.

"What's eckel-tricity?"

Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly. James and Sirius had detention, so he was in the dorm doing homework with Peter and Remus. Normally it would only be Harry and Remus, but since Peter was sure he wasn't going to miss out on anything he was up there with them. Sirius and James hardly did any work, which Harry got annoyed with. But really, there didn't seem to be anything they did that didn't bother Harry.

Time felt like it was slipping by far too fast… despite the trouble James and Sirius kept getting in, Harry was so happy to be with them. Not only was it better than dealing with Umbridge and the Slytherins at home, but he also got to hang out with his parents. He wouldn't trade that for the world. He was a bit worried about getting back though. He couldn't stay here forever even if he wanted to; he would miss Ron and Hermione too much. Even thinking about them upset Harry. They were his best friends, and he knew they were scared for him, especially since they didn't even know where he was.

Harry wondered how Sirius was doing. Not the Sirius in detention, the one sitting all alone in Grimmauld Place. Sirius was probably terrified for Harry. After all, Sirius always overreacted about everything, even if Harry wasn't really in that much trouble. Sirius really could be a good godfather, even though he was irresponsible… Harry missed him very much.

"I'm going to the library," he announced. Peter waved goodbye and Remus smiled at him.

Harry nearly crashed into Lily as he exited the portrait hole. She started to scowl at him and then realized it was Harry. "Oh, hi Harry," she said pleasantly. "What are you doing?"

He smiled back at her. "I was going to the library," he replied. "What are you in such a good mood about?"

She grinned slyly at him. "I got a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend."

Harry felt like someone had hit him with a block of concrete. He knew there was no way she was going with James. He didn't like to think of his mum being with someone other than his dad. This was creeping him out. He fought to keep his face normal. "Who?"

She giggled. "Regulus Black."

**HPHPHPHP**

"What is the _matter_ with you?"

Regulus turned around to see Snape running to catch up to him as he walked to the common room. "Hello, Severus," he said pleasantly, smirking.

"Why are you going out with her?" Severus exclaimed, furious. "I thought we were going to prank Potter and Black, not Lily!"

"And how do you think Potter will react when he finds out the 'love of his life' is going out with a third year Slytherin?" Regulus replied snidely.

Severus opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. "But Lily's going to get hurt too!"

Regulus looked at him curiously. "Don't tell me you actually care about that Mudblood?"

Severus had no response.

**HPHPHPHP**

"So Harry…" Sirius began, "Why is Lily mad at you? She looked furious in History of Magic."

"I don't want to talk about it," Harry mumbled. He felt ashamed. He knew he shouldn't have yelled at Lily, but how could she do this? Didn't she know she was breaking James' heart? And Regulus Black! He became a Death Eater! Anyway, he was only a third year…

"Tell," James demanded, leaning over his desk, blatantly ignoring Professor Flitwick's cries of "Help!" as someone accidentally set him on fire.

"I'll tell, if Harry won't," Annabelle said as she walked over, glaring at Harry. "Harry became furious upon finding out who Lily was going to Hogsmeade with because Harry is a prejudiced git, just like his father."

"I am not prejudiced!" Harry yelled angrily.

"Oh really?" Lily asked, her tone harsh as she joined them. Harry opened his mouth to respond, but then James interrupted.

"Are you going with Snivellus?" His voice was hard and uncaring, but the other boys could tell he was breaking inside.

"Nope," Lily said. "I'm going with Regulus."

"My _brother?_" Sirius shrieked. "The slimy little third year?"

"I still can't believe you were so rude, Harry. I thought you were better than the idiots you hang out with." She turned and began to stalk off, but Harry stopped her.

"Lily," he said, his voice pleading. When she turned around, his face became angry again. "Maybe you don't know Regulus Black like I do." Lily didn't know what to say to this, so she just bit her lip and walked away, Annabelle following.

"Are you all right, James? Sirius?" Peter asked timidly. James had a broken look on his face, and Sirius looked as angry as he had when he was going to kill Wormtail in the Shrieking Shack.

Ignoring Peter, Sirius whipped around and turned to Harry. "'Maybe you don't know Regulus Black like I do'?" he repeated, staring at Harry. "What does that mean?"

Harry bit his lip, remembering that he wasn't supposed to mention anything about the future. Sirius, seeing that Harry wasn't going to say anything, merely growled and slumped into his chair. But Harry wasn't as worried about Sirius as much as he was about James. James was blinking tears away, purposefully not looking at any of the others. Anyone could tell he really was in love with Lily. If only James would act like it…

**HPHPHPHP**

Lily and Severus sat in the library, working on their Transfiguration homework, when Regulus strutted in and sat down next to Lily. "Hey," he said softly, using his Black family charm.

"Hi Regulus," Lily said back distractedly.

"Severus."

"Regulus."

"Regulus, can I talk to you about something?" Lily asked.

"Of course," he said smoothly, and the two walked over to the other side of the library.

Snape was furious. That little kid had Lily wrapped around his finger! It was so typical that if it wasn't Sirius making everything a mess, it had to be his little brother…

Lily came back without Regulus and sat down, humming quietly. "Where's Black?" Snape asked, trying to keep the venom out of his voice.

"I broke up with him."

"_What?_"

Lily sighed. "Really, I was only going out with him to make James and Sirius mad. But he is only a third year, and he's far too much like his brother…" She wrinkled her nose.

Snape didn't know what to say.

**HPHPHPHP**

Harry knew he would find Lily in the library. He quickened his pace as he got closer and slammed right into a younger Slytherin boy.

"Sorry!" Harry said quickly, since it probably had been his fault. The boy grunted distractedly and surprisingly, started helping Harry pick up all the papers that had fallen out of Harry's bag.

As the boy handed Harry his papers, Harry noticed the boy looked quite a bit like Sirius… "Are you Regulus Black?" he asked abruptly.

The boy sighed and nodded. "And you're Harry Potter, obviously." The boy shoved his hands in his pockets and loped away. Even the way the two brothers walked was similar.

Harry blinked, and then walked at a much slower pace to the library. He quickly found Lily and Snape sitting at their usual table. He walked over nervously.

"Lily?" She looked up and didn't outright curse him, so he figured he was allowed to continue. "Listen… er… I'm really sorry about the way I acted. It's not like I had any right to decide who you can or can't go out with, I just…" He trailed off helplessly.

Lily smiled at him. "It's alright, Harry," she said. "I just broke up with him."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed. "That's why he looked so distracted… I ran into him when I was coming here, and… He seems kind of nice, actually."

Lily smiled. "Yeah, he's nice enough," she agreed. "But he's far too much like Sirius… besides, I was only going out with him to make Sirius and James mad…" She giggled. "I guess it worked, huh?"

Harry sat down. "No, it didn't, Lily." He took a deep breath and continued. "Sirius was angry, but it wasn't because of Regulus. It's because you really hurt James. He's not making it up; he really does like you."

Harry wasn't usually the type to talk about feelings and stuff, but this was an emergency. Lily had to understand that James was in love with her, or Harry might never even exist!

Lily sighed and shook her head. "I know he's your father, Harry, but he's really not that wonderful." She paused. "I'm sorry."

Harry felt his face starting to turn red and he quickly looked away, starting to read what Lily was writing for homework. It was an essay on Human Transfiguration, something Remus had gotten faster than any of the others… Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him. "I'll see you later, Lily," he said, and nearly sprinted out of the library.


	9. Chapter 9

Regulus couldn't believe that she had broken up with him. Things were supposed to go the other way around! He sighed, frustrated.

So his plan hadn't worked. Severus was still hanging out with Lily. Well, at least he had annoyed Sirius a little bit… He smiled. That was something.

Harry Potter seemed like an okay bloke, if a bit slow, which was surprising when you considered who his father was. But then again, Regulus had never hated James Potter. He merely disliked him because of his association with Sirius.

Sirius… Regulus couldn't even stand to be around his brother anymore. Sirius had decided that just because Regulus was put into Sytherin, it meant he shared the same ideals as his parents did; which wasn't true at all. In fact, as Regulus got older, he found more and more flaws with their beliefs. Both brothers knew their parents had the wrong idea, but only Sirius was stupid enough to actually tell them that. He was such a Gryffindor, brave to the point of foolishness. Regulus was a Slytherin. He looked after who was important to him. Even though he knew everyone was technically important, that didn't mean they were all important to him.

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry ran through the common room and up to the dormitory. He felt nearly as excited as he had when he went after the Sorcerer's Stone…. "Guys!" he yelled, bursting through the door.

Peter shushed him, and the other three boys didn't even look up from the piece of parchment they were looking at. Distracted, Harry asked, "Is that the Marauder's Map?"

The boys all looked up immediately. "You know about the Map?" Remus asked.

"Of course he does," Sirius grumbled. "Chatting up Lily and my brother, were you?"

Harry stared at Sirius. He'd never realized how much of a temper his godfather had. "Do you want to hear what I have to say, or not, Sirius?" he said testily. "Because I don't have to tell you."

Sirius rolled his eyes, and plopped down on Harry's bed. "No, please, Little Prongs; continue."

Harry sighed. "So I was going to talk to Lily and apologize for yelling at her – no matter how bad of a decision she made, I shouldn't have yelled… Anyway, on my way there I crashed into Regulus. He doesn't seem that bad, you know. He was quite polite and he helped me pick up all the things I'd dropped." Sirius was looking murderous, so Harry hurriedly kept talking. "So I went over to Lily and Snape, and apologized to Lily. She said it was perfectly fine, since apparently she had just broken up with him." James yelped for joy. "She only went out with him in the first place to prank us, since you four enjoy pulling pranks so much." He glared at them. "I told her that even though Sirius isn't worth talking to – " ("Hey!") " – James can be a decent guy. She didn't believe me, but then I had an idea." Harry cleared his throat. "I think it would be best if the two of you were at least decent to each other, but that's only going to happen if James stops acting like a prat every time he sees her, and actually tells her what he really thinks. At the least, she'll look at him in a better light."

"That's not going to happen," Sirius interrupted. "You never tell a girl you like 'em; it makes you look like an idiot."

"Prongs has always been a bit of an idiot though," Peter laughed.

"James wouldn't be able to act halfway decent around Lily," Remus said, confused. "We've tried that. He just freezes up and goes into autopilot."

"I'm right here!" James said angrily.

"Exactly, Remus," Harry said, ignoring James. "But we've been learning about Human Transfiguration recently, and it's not too hard to change someone's eye color and cover up a scar…"

"You're not saying – " Sirius began, grinning.

"You'll pretend to be James?" Peter gasped. "But what if she realizes it's you?"

"If we do a good job she won't," Sirius said, getting up excitedly. "We'll just change both your eye colors and stuff, and bam! Prongs and Little Prongs switch!"

"It's not that easy," Remus protested. "Your faces are shaped a little different, and James' nose is longer."

"Lily already thinks I'm James every time she sees me!"

"Yeah, no one will notice! And it'll be fun to be Harry. Please, Moony! You're the best at little detailed spells like that!"

"But you two don't act like each other! You're completely different people! You stand different and walk different and react different! There are so many little things we'd have to watch out for!"

"We can do it," James announced. Then he grinned. "But we'd have to switch back for Quidditch."

HPHPHPHPHP

Harry and James spent the rest of the week watching each other closely; making sure they each knew what they needed about each other. Remus lectured them both, but they didn't even come close to changing their minds.

Finally, they decided to do it. Remus stared hard at James and Harry's faces. "Okay," he said. "I think I'm going to do James first because we have plenty of pictures of James around here that I can use for reference when we're doing Harry."

He set to work on James. He started with the shape of his face, changing the size of his jaw and his cheekbones. "This feels weird…" James murmured. He was surprised it didn't hurt.

The scar was the hardest part for Remus. He didn't do a perfect job with it, but it would be close enough. Then he did the eyes. He found it surprisingly hard to get the exact shade of green. "Wow, you have really intense eyes, Harry," Remus joked. Harry blushed.

At last, James was done. He looked completely identical to Harry. Peter gaped at them. "This is weird," he said in an awed voice.

"All right," Remus said. "Get me a picture of James. It's time for Harry."

Remus had such a hard time trying to cover up Harry's scar. Eventually, he had to use Muggle makeup. "So don't go swimming, or it'll come off," Sirius laughed.

The two now looked exactly like the other. "Wow," James whispered, staring at Harry, "It's like I'm looking in a mirror."

"This is the weirdest thing I've ever done," Harry said fervently. "And I've done some weird things."

HPHPHPHP

As the other boys sat on one of the beds, planning what Harry would say, James stared at his new face in the mirror. He knew he'd seen those eyes before, he just knew it! If he could only figure it out, then maybe he'd know who Harry's mum was…

HPHPHPHP

Lily and Annabelle lay on the floor in the common room, reading their textbooks upside down. "Remind me again why we do this?" Lily asked Annabelle conversationally as a couple of first years stared at them like they were animals in a zoo.

"I find it comforting," Annabelle answered. "I feel like I don't have a care in the world."

"Why don't we just lie down in the middle of the Great Hall?" Lily asked sarcastically. "Or, better yet, in McGonagall's class?"

"Good idea!" Annabelle praised, completely overlooking the sarcasm. Then she saw out of the corner of her eye the Marauders coming down the stairs. "Here comes the boys," she groaned.

Lily rolled her eyes as James plopped down next to her and Sirius casually down next to Annabelle. The other three boys went over to the armchairs by the fire.

"James, go away," she muttered. She didn't even care at this point. He was just so annoying…

Harry tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. "Lily, I need to talk to you," he said quietly.

Lily frowned. It _was_ James, right? Not Harry? Yes, his eyes were hazel. He was being more polite and kind than usual… Sirius and Annabelle were deep in conversation, and Annabelle' voice seemed to be more and more stressed out as they continued.

"In private?" James asked. Lily nodded, hardly knowing what she was agreeing to, and the two of them walked out of the common room.

They walked a little bit away from the portrait hole, and then James turned to Lily and took a deep breath. It definitely was James, Lily decided. "Lily, I need to tell you something," James said nervously. "Erm…" he paused. Harry suddenly realized that he didn't want to do this. James needed to do this, not him. "I came here to tell you I love you," he said quietly. "But now I can't."

Lily stared at him. Was James finally over his little crush on her? Somehow, she didn't think that was a good thing.

Harry sighed and rubbed off the makeup on his forehead so that his scar became visible. "I'm Harry, not James," he whispered. "We were going to have me tell you how James feels about you because James can't do it himself… but I can't do this. It isn't right. You deserve to have James tell you. I'm sorry."

Lily was so confused. "Wait… were you trying to play a prank on me?" she asked, her voice rising.

"No!" Harry said quickly. "We were just trying to help James! Every single time he sees you, he tries to act nice and normal and himself, but he gets too nervous and freezes up and he can't. He loves you, Lily, he really does. I wouldn't have done this if he didn't."

"But why would you try to help your father get a date with someone who wasn't your mother?" Lily asked, puzzled. Harry blinked in astonishment, realizing what this must look like, and hoping against hope that Lily wouldn't figure it out…

Lily gasped. Everything fit. _She _was Harry's mum! It made perfect sense. That's why Harry kept trying to get her to like James. She closed her eyes. That meant… that meant she was dead.

She looked up at Harry, tears in her eyes. Harry couldn't speak. She _knew_. He knew this was bad. What could he do? Should he just tell her everything? "Harry," Lily said, her voice shaking, "What happens to me?"

Harry sat down on the floor slowly. What could he say? He had to tell her something or she'd think it was worse than it was… Lily sat down next to him, trying to keep calm. She was probably overreacting. She must be. "Harry, what happens to me? Why would I…"

Harry took a deep breath and began to talk. "I don't know. I don't know why you married him, I really don't. Nobody ever told me." He took in a shuttering breath. "All I know is that you did marry him. Sirius was the best man. I have pictures – you were happy. I know that. You were happy with him." Harry found this was getting easier as he continued. "But then… you guys were fighting Voldemort, and you found out he was after you. After us. I was only a baby. So you went into hiding, but he found you…."

Harry knew that he couldn't tell her about Peter. He couldn't change what happened. It wasn't right. Anyway, if he told her he could never take it back, whereas this way he could change his mind. "Dad told you to hide, and he tried to fight him, but Voldemort killed him." Harry's voice was breaking. "He found you upstairs with me, and told you to move so he could kill me, but you wouldn't. He killed you too." Harry could hardly speak. "Then he tried to kill me… and he couldn't."

Lily looked up. She had been staring at the floor, tears flowing down her face. "Why not?" she whispered.

"Dumbledore said it was because you died for me. Your love sort of… protected me I guess. I ended up with this scar, and he lost all of his powers. Nobody knows where he is…" Harry decided that was all she had to know. He shouldn't – _couldn't_ – tell her anything else. Well, except… "I never knew you, Lily. I never knew James either. I was too young. My time here… it's been like a dream. It's the most amazing thing that ever could have happened to me."

Lily pulled him tightly into a hug. He hugged her back with all his might. Lily was still crying. She didn't really know what to do or what to think, but she did know that she loved Harry. And maybe someday she would love James too.


	10. Chapter 10

They spent a long time sitting on the floor, crying together. Lily had no idea what to do. She didn't know what Harry expected now that she knew – was she supposed to act like his mother? She didn't even know how. And was she suddenly supposed to fall in love with James?

"Lily," Harry said thickly. He didn't think he'd cried so much since… well, ever. "Lily, I know you're probably scared and confused, but… can we forget about this? At least, act like we've forgotten? Because James… he can't know. If he knows, he'll never feel like he has to prove himself to you, and he'll never change. He won't grow up. History has to continue the way it was supposed to. I don't know when you decide that James isn't that bad and finally agree to go out with him, but it isn't now. And it probably won't be for a very long time. And I can't change that, because who knows what else I'd be changing?" Harry looked at her, confusion clearly evident on his face.

"That's probably a very good idea," Lily said quietly. "Harry… you're very sweet. You're such a good guy, you really are. James is lucky to have you. I'm… I'm lucky to have you."

Harry smiled at her. "Let's be friends, then," Harry replied.

Lily grinned back, relieved. "Yeah," she said. "Normal friends."

Harry laughed and stood up, reaching down a hand to pull her to her feet.

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James was getting impatient. Sirius wasn't even talking to Annabelle anymore; he had given up and she had gone upstairs to her dormitory. The four Marauders waited anxiously by the fire for Harry and Lily to come back. It'd been more than an hour! What could they possibly be doing?

After what seemed like ages, Harry walked back into the portrait hole. His face looked kind of red. "What happened?" James immediately demanded, after Remus quickly put them back to normal since no one was watching and Harry's makeup was smudged off anyway.

Harry plopped into an armchair, sighing. "I couldn't do it."

"What? Why not?" Peter whined. He was secretly glad – if there was one thing no Potter could deal with, it was Lily Evans. At least they weren't completely invincible.

Sirius noticed that something in Harry's face twitched when Peter spoke. Was it annoyance? Well, he could understand that. Peter could be quite annoying at times.

"Harry, what happened?" Remus asked gently. Harry looked pretty upset. Remus worried about him a lot.

"I just couldn't do it," Harry repeated. "It wasn't right. James, you have to do it. You just have to. If you want Lily to go out with you, then you have to ask her out."

"Where is Lily?" Remus asked. "I mean, what did you tell her? She must have been wondering why James needed to talk to her."

Harry sighed. "I told her the truth," he said. "I made sure I told her it was my idea, but that I couldn't go through with it."

"But how will I possibly be able to talk to her now?" James asked. He was freaking out. "Now that she knows I would do something like that…"

"She doesn't blame you, James," Harry said quickly. "Don't worry about that. Just… just be yourself. You act so nervous around Lily that she doesn't know what you're really like."

"Harry's right," Remus agreed. "If you start acting like a gentleman—"

" – and less like a prat – "

" – then she might actually like you."

Lily walked in. She looked like she'd been crying. She smiled vaguely at the boys, and walked upstairs. A few minutes later, Annabelle came down.

"James, what did you say to her?" Annabelle asked, sounding like she was on the verge of anger. "Lily said she couldn't say and that she wanted to go to bed."

"So you automatically try to figure it out? Even though she said she wasn't telling?" Sirius asked, sounding just as furious. They all knew he was doing it for James, not Lily, but he seemed righteous at least.

"James, what did you say?" Annabelle repeated, ignoring Sirius for once. James opened his mouth; then closed it. Truthfully, he didn't know. But if Annabelle was angry, then it couldn't have been good…

"Annabelle, just leave it," came a tired sigh from behind her. Annabelle spun around and saw Lily. "I'm not mad at him; he didn't do anything wrong," she said quietly. Then she smiled. "In fact, James was rather sweet."

Annabelle gasped. The boys sat there shocked, except Harry, who grinned and winked at Lily. She smiled back at him, and continued, "He was just apologizing for being a prat the last five years."

Annabelle's mouth was open, but she wasn't saying anything. James looked like his greatest dreams had come true. Lily laughed at the looks on the boys' faces. She ruffled James' hair for him, and walked away. "I'm going to bed."

Annabelle hurried after her, looking almost angry at Lily's behavior. James looked like his wildest dream had come true – which it did. The other boys just looked astounded. Harry laughed loudly, and they all turned to him. James had a crazy grin on his face.

"Harry," he said, his eyes sparkling, "What did you say to her?"

Harry just laughed again and put a finger to his mouth. He certainly wasn't telling.

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Severus was fuming.

He didn't know how it had happened, but seemingly overnight Lily had become friendly with Potter. She wasn't yelling at him at all, or even ignoring him. She was talking to him nicely. But what was even more intriguing was she didn't really care for Potter; it was all for Harry. Somehow, that arrogant Gryffindor time-traveler had convinced Lily that Potter wasn't that bad.

He knew the kid was just like his father.

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Regulus sat quietly at the Slytherin table, not eating anything. The information he had was incredible. If he told, Lily Evans would probably never speak to James Potter again, which would only cause her and Severus to become even closer. Which would probably mean Harry would simply not exist.

Regulus closed his eyes, remembering last night. Harry and Lily hadn't known it, but he'd been in that corridor the whole time. He certainly wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but he figured if he walked out Harry would curse him on the spot. That's what James would do, after all. Regulus realized he had started calling these people by their first names. He was so confused. He didn't even think he hated his brother anymore…

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"I can't believe we haven't pulled any pranks on anybody since we got here," Sirius grumbled, slouching in one of the armchairs by the fire. James laughed.

"Padfoot, it's only been a couple of weeks."

"It's been nearly a month! It's Little Prongs' fault… he's so uptight about everything. I don't think we've even pranked Snivelly yet."

Sirius would never admit it out loud, but he almost wished Harry hadn't dropped in from the future. Not that he didn't like Harry, he did. But James only had time for his son nowadays, leaving Sirius with a rat and a prefect. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy their company, but he missed James.

And now that Lily was speaking to him, James was even more distracted. They hadn't worked on becoming Animagi at all! After Harry had let slip they managed it, the others had relaxed and said not to worry. But all Harry had said was they'd figured it out in their fifth year. That could be a month from now if they worked hard, and then Moony wouldn't be alone. But no, James was too busy with Harry and Lily…

"James," he said. Not Prongs. James. James turned around abruptly and looked at him, hearing the serious tone in his voice. "If we want to help Moony, we've got to work."

James sighed and nodded. "I know, Padfoot," he said quietly. Sirius was shocked. Normally, James would never listen to what Sirius said if he was actually being, well, serious…

"I've just been so distracted lately with Harry and stuff, I haven't even been thinking about you guys. But I can't help it. I want to know everything about him. But the more I learn, the more I feel like I'm never going to…"

"Going to what?"

James sighed again. "Nothing, Padfoot. No worries." He suddenly brightened and said, "How about this? Let's prank Harry!"

Sirius' eyes lit up. "Do you have anything in mind?"

"Well… no," James said. Sirius sighed. "But we can go to the kitchens maybe. Food helps me think!" Sirius grinned.

"Me too," he laughed, and ran off, James close behind him.

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Sev was being unusually quiet. He looked almost angry. Lily figured this had something to do with Harry. She had invited him to study with them, and Severus had barely uttered two words.

When Harry went to go look for a book on hinkypunks (she knew he was just giving her time with Severus, since he'd told her he'd learned that third year) she leaned over toward Severus and whispered, "Sev, what's wrong?"

Severus couldn't believe she was really asking that. What's wrong? What's wrong? What was wrong was that stupid Potter was ruining _everything_. Lily noticed the anger in his eyes and shrank back.

"I thought you hated Potter," he hissed, his voice sharp.

She looked surprised. "I do," she said immediately on instinct.

"Then why do you keep talking to him and laughing with him and hanging out with his idiot son?"

Lily quickly became furious. "Harry is not an idiot," she growled. Severus couldn't believe she was sticking up for him.

"Why do you care about him so much?" he whispered softly. All the rage had left his tone. Now he only seemed hurt. "Why?"

Before Lily could answer, he got up and left. Lily sat frozen for a few minutes. Harry walked over and poked her on the shoulder.

"Hey Lily, where'd Sna – " He stopped abruptly, noticing she was close to tears. "Lily, what's wrong?"

Lily just shook her head, wiping her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered, opening her textbook again and continuing her essay. Harry stood there for a moment, uncertain, then sat down and opened his textbook too. They didn't speak the rest of the night.

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Regulus was freaking out. Of course, for him "freaking out" meant he was merely troubled in comparison to other people (for example, his brother). But still.

He didn't know why he didn't just walk up to James Potter and tell him he's dead. Or, better yet – tell Sirius. Or even better, blackmail Harry into doing something. But he just didn't want to.

Maybe it was Lily that was stopping him. She had that effect on people. It didn't matter who they were, she made them want to help her. And now she was even affecting Regulus. He really didn't know what to do. He could just picture her crying softly in that way she had that somehow made her look even prettier than usual.

He knew what his mother would do. He also knew what Sirius would do, and despite what Sirius thought, Regulus wanted to be like him. Just not as loud. Or as annoying. He preferred not to be murdered by one of their cousins, which was probably how Sirius was going to end up.

Mother would milk it for all it was worth – blackmail Harry and then betray him. Sirius would probably talk to Harry about it and try to figure out exactly what happened to James so somehow he could stop it.

He didn't really want to do either. Actually, maybe he should tell Harry he knew and ask Harry to Obliviate him.


	11. Chapter 11

"_Stupid_ Sev, _stupid_ Potter – "

"Muttering to yourself, Lily?" Annabelle commented as she walked into the dormitory. Lily was angrily taking her books out of her bag to start her homework.

"No," Lily lied shortly.

"What's Potter done now?" Annabelle asked conversationally. "Did he curse Snape again?"

Lily sighed. "No, he didn't," she replied. "And that's just it. Sev's mad because I've been nice to Potter recently, and I suppose he's in the right, Potter's a jerk and has played plenty of terrible pranks on him, but he's gotten a lot better ever since Harry got here, and Harry's fine so Sev shouldn't be mad that I'm hanging out with him…"

Annabelle nodded sympathetically. "Do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think you should just get rid of them both. Boys are dumb."

Lily sighed and lay down on her bed. "It's not that easy." She wished it were.

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"Why are you all so distracted today?" Professor Hughes demanded. "You're all in a trance."

"_We_ aren't," one of the Hufflepuffs responded. "It's the Gryffindors. They're being weird."

"Annabelle, stop being weird."

"RHETT!"

"And don't call me Rhett."

"Then don't call me Annabelle!"

They glared at each other.

"Seriously, though – " Professor Hughes began.

"Seriously or _siriusly_?" Padfoot asked with a grin.

"Oh Merlin," Remus groaned. "I hate that joke."

"Shut it, all of you! What's the matter?"

Professor Hughes' question was met with silence. He sighed. Teenagers. "Harry, could you please share some light on the subject?"

Harry started. "No."

"I think you can. I think you better."

Harry suddenly realized why Sirius adored Professor Hughes. Something in his tone made him know you shouldn't mess with him, or else you'd wake up hanging upside down naked with the words "SLYTHERINS RULE" on your chest. In the middle of the Great Hall.

"I think we're just a little stressed," he said timidly. At that moment, he was more afraid of his professor than he was of Voldemort.

Professor Hughes raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Lily echoed nervously. "Stressed."

Professor Hughes raised his other eyebrow.

The class was silent.

"Oh, Merlin," Professor Hughes sighed. "Now you're just being boring."

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It wasn't just Professor Hughes that realized something was wrong with the fifth year Gryffindors.

All the professors knew. In fact, the entire school knew, and all they could pin it on was the arrival of Harry Potter. This, of course, did not exactly make them fond of him. Most of the students had been expecting even more pranks than usual from the Marauders, but there hadn't been a single mishap – well, at least not one worth mentioning. On top of this, Harry had somehow managed to convince _the_ Lily Evans that _the_ James Potter wasn't so bad after all. This seemed to be creating a rift between James Potter and Sirius Black, who were the school's best troublemakers. It wasn't long before Harry found himself prey to many dirty looks and whispers whenever he walked through the corridors.

This didn't bother Harry in the slightest. It certainly wasn't as bad as some of the other things people had been angry at him for, and he knew that after the first Quidditch game he'd at least have the Gryffindors talking to him again. Unfortunately, the others didn't see it that way at all.

"I don't understand what's up with all of them!" James said furiously during breakfast, ripping apart his pancakes with his knife and pouring about two gallons of syrup on them. "It's like they're mad because we haven't pulled a prank in a while! If they're so desperate for one, why don't they just all do it themselves?"

"Because we're the best at it," Sirius replied smoothly. "You know it's true, Prongs. If anyone's going to pull an amazing prank around here, it's the _four_ of us."

Harry noticed the emphasis on the word "four" but didn't pay much attention to it. He had not been getting along fantastically with Sirius as of late; in fact, oftentimes Sirius was at his throat. It bothered Harry a bit, but certainly not as much as it would have if James hadn't accepted him rather than Sirius. Harry already knew Sirius in his own time, and he knew Sirius loved him, even if this Sirius found him annoying. This Sirius wasn't his godfather yet, he was just a kid. Harry found it easy to distinguish the difference between most of the people here and their future counterparts, and treat them for whom they were now.

"Sirius," Remus warned, eyeing James who was glaring at Sirius. Sirius huffed and turned back to his own breakfast. Remus rolled his eyes at Harry.

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Regulus eyed the Gryffindor table. Harry was always surrounded by people! If it wasn't the Marauders, it was Lily and that other girl she hung out with. It wasn't fair. He'd finally made up his mind to just talk to Harry about it, and it was proving impossible. All Regulus wanted to do was get this awful secret off his chest so Harry could take care of it and he, Regulus, could continue as usual. But this was proving to be impossible, unfortunately. He couldn't even ask Snape to help him this time. Snape and Lily had apparently gotten into a fight about how close Lily was with Harry, and Snape had blamed the sudden closeness on Regulus. Regulus thought that was completely unfair and also very stupid, since most of the Slytherins hated Snape and he should have been grateful for a friend. But no – he had to be stubborn. He was practically a Gryffindor when it came to stubbornness…

But Regulus had to focus on how to get Harry alone. If he couldn't think of anything, he'd have to approach Harry while the boy was surrounded by Gryffindors, which was to be avoided as much as possible.

While Regulus was contemplating his situation, he heard several screeches which meant the mail had arrived. At first he didn't think much of it, but then he realized: Of course! He'd send Harry a letter telling him to meet him somewhere alone, and then he could talk to him. Regulus decided an empty classroom would be best, and he'd have to send the letter with one of the school owls… he grinned to himself. This could work.

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"Severus, will you please listen to me?"

"No! No, I can't, Lily. I hate Potter and Black. I _hate_ them. More than anything else. I thought you did too. I thought I could trust you."

Lily sighed, grabbing Sev's arm and pulling him to a stop in the middle of the corridor. "You can trust me, Sev. I promise. Please stop being angry."

Severus glared at her hurtfully. "Why? You've got other friends now. It's not as though you want to be my friend."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, I don't!"

"Aww… a lover's tiff with Snivellus, Evans? We thought you were better than that."

Snape and Lily whipped around to see James and Sirius standing a few feet away from them. Sirius was casually leaning against the wall, smirking, but James looked hesitant. "Sirius…"

"Oh, is Snivelly mad?" Sirius taunted. Then his eyes narrowed. "Or maybe he's just relieved it wasn't one of his Death Eater friends that caught him with a Muggleborn, huh?"

Snape looked furious. "As though you should talk, Black!" he spat. "Your family's the most pureblood-obsessed there is!"

Sirius' face contorted. "Are you saying I'm anything like them?" he asked, his tone low and dangerous. "Do you think I want anything to do with them?"

Snape sneered. "Oh, of course, I forgot. You're far too weak to ever be capable of matching up to others in your family. No wonder they hate you."

Lily had hardly blinked when Sirius shot a spell at Snape. "_Stupefy!_"

Snape ducked and was about to send a curse back when Harry and Remus walked into the corridor. "What's going on?" Harry asked immediately, glaring at James and Sirius.

Sirius stared defiantly back at Harry. "I was about to hex Snivellus," he said as snidely as most Blacks always spoke. "But of course, if Saint Harry thinks there's something wrong with that…"

Harry's temper flared. "Yeah, I do think there's something wrong with that!"

"Harry…" James interrupted pleadingly. "Please, it's not a big deal… Just forget about it…"

"I will not forget about it!" Harry yelled. He was absolutely furious. "I thought that maybe, just maybe, you'd actually grown up a bit! But no! The second I'm not there you turn around and start jinxing every Slytherin in sight!"

"That's not how it happened – "

"Harry, you're not even bothering to listen to the whole story!"

"I don't need to," Harry stated determinedly, glaring at the two of them, and then turned back around and walked off. Remus stood there as though in shock, before whipping around and running after him.

James and Sirius turned towards Lily. Snape had darted away while Harry was yelling at the two boys. Lily was frowning slightly at them. "What?" James asked tiredly. "Going to tell us off as well?"

"No," Lily replied with slight hesitation. "I was just wondering if I've ever done that."

"What, yell at us like a banshee?"

"No, Black… Blamed you for something that wasn't your fault – well, at least not entirely."

The two boys stared at her in shock. Lily blushed, then turned and walked away. The boys kept staring.

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Regulus was sitting in the Owlery, and had finally come up with a letter he liked. It had taken him far too many tries, but he'd finally managed it. He sounded like someone who knew what he was doing and was doing Harry a favor by meeting with him, but hadn't given a clue as to what their meeting would be about, only that Harry had to come alone. He desperately wished Harry would listen, because if Harry brought anyone else things could get difficult… although, Lily wouldn't be too bad. Regulus contemplated for a minute whether he ought to send her a letter as well, and decided against it. This was complicated enough as it was.

He found a school owl that looked promising. It gave him a dignified stare. Regulus looked back at the owl haughtily. "Deliver this to Harry Potter, will you? And yes, I'm aware you'll only be flying to the Great Hall, but he isn't to know I've sent it."

The owl glared back at Regulus before nipping his finger affectionately. Regulus took that to mean his message would be sent, and departed.


	12. Chapter 12

_Harry Potter,_

_Please wait to read this until you are alone. Do not inform anyone else of the contents of this letter, or the results could be disastrous._

_This means you, Sirius._

_But to business: I have something I need to talk to you about. I recently accidentally overheard you speaking to Lily Evans about a very delicate topic. I am unsure as to what I should do with this information, and have decided that it would be best to discuss my situation with you. Meet me in the empty classroom next to Charms at midnight tonight._

Harry reread the paper again and again. He was sitting in History of Magic, not paying a bit of attention to what Professor Binns was saying – he could always ask Remus for help later. Remus was a lot like Hermione in that aspect.

Hermione. Harry missed both her and Ron more than he could express in words. No matter what, they had always been beside him. There had certainly been times he'd had to face terrifying dangers himself – the Triwizard Tournament, Chamber of Secrets, Sorcerer's Stone – but this was the first big adventure he'd ever been on where they simply weren't there at all. He wondered what was going on back home. He supposed they must be worried sick about him. Hermione would immediately go to the library, searching for something that would explain his disappearance. Ron would follow her not because he believed he could help, but because losing one friend would make him increasingly paranoid about losing another. But then again, perhaps they wouldn't even notice his departure. After all, he had time traveled. He might be able to come back only moments from when he'd left.

Harry sighed. He needed to focus and concentrate on the letter. He should've known something like this would happen. He wished he possessed the ability to keep a secret – but then again, that was what Snape was supposed to be teaching Harry, wasn't it? And it seemed highly unlikely that he was ever going to receive those lessons again, not after what he'd seen…

Harry looked down at the paper, desperately trying to figure out who this person was. It didn't seem as though the person meant him harm. They simply seemed like someone who had information they knew was important, but didn't know exactly what to do with it. Of course, being unsure about what to do about something could simply be a fancy way of saying they wanted to blackmail him.

Harry found it very interesting that they had mentioned Sirius in the letter, especially in such an informal way. This made Harry suspect that they knew Sirius not only well enough to realize he would be the type of person to read a private letter not meant for his eyes, but also well enough to call him by his first name so impolitely.

Harry exhaled loudly. He supposed he would just have to wait until tonight to find out.

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Professor Hughes rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Blimey, are you kids going to get a shock today!"

Surprisingly enough, the class looked less than pleased by the news.

"Since I am the mightiest and greatest teacher you have ever had, I have managed to produce for you…" The professor paused for dramatic effect. "A boggart!"

"Professor, we did boggarts ages ago," Lily pointed out. "And we were really only reviewing what we learned years ago. Shouldn't the third years practice with the boggart?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Erm… all right."

"Now that the dear Miss Evans is done complaining – no blame on you, dear, I know my wonderful cousin put you up to it – let's go play with a boggart!"

The class got up as Professor Hughes led them all the way up to the seventh floor, where they entered a classroom that looked like it hadn't been used in years.

There was a large wardrobe in the corner that was shaking back and forth violently. Harry remembered his third year, and hoped his boggart would be the same. It'd be far easier that way. He figured it would be since it'd been the same not even a year ago. The other students didn't seem particularly worried, since they'd learned about boggarts the same year Harry did. Harry didn't find that surprising – Lupin probably based his own classes off the ones he'd received in school.

"Who wants to go first?" Professor Hughes asked excitedly. "Perhaps Mr. Black? And then the rest of your little group."

Sirius stepped in front of the wardrobe, a determined expression on his face. Professor Hughes opened the doors… and out stepped Sirius' mother.

Harry supposed he shouldn't be particularly surprised – Sirius absolutely _loathed_ his mother. She had hardly began opening her mouth to scream at him, a furious expression on her face, when Sirius exclaimed "_Riddikulus!_" and she found herself wrapped up completely in duct tape, with only a slit for her eyes that were glaring angrily at Sirius. Harry wondered where Sirius had encountered duct tape.

James went next. He gulped as the boggart transformed into a rather old-looking man and woman that Harry thought were extremely familiar. They were lying on the ground, covered in blood clearly dead. James blinked rapidly and choked out, "_R-Riddikulus!_"

It immediately became clear that the blood was only ketchup, as the man laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Tricked ya, son!"

Harry realized that for the first time, he was looking at his grandparents.

"Next!" Professor Hughes called, and Harry stepped up, bracing himself for the cold feeling that came with a dementor… but he never got it.

Instead, he found himself looking at James Potter and Sirius Black. But they weren't the teenage versions. James looked the same way he had after Harry was born, in the pictures Harry had. Sirius looked like the one Harry knew who was too skinny and gaunt from Azkaban to be truly handsome anymore.

Harry was frozen as they began to speak. "Did you think I ever really wanted you?" James asked. "Did you honestly believe that? I only cared for your mother. You'll never be good enough for me."

Harry had forgotten anyone else was in the room. His eyes filled with tears, pain evident in his eyes. Sirius began to speak, slowly and maliciously. "You took everything away from me," he stated in a low voice. "I suffered for years because of you, and when I finally had a chance at freedom, you screwed it up. I had to pretend you were James to prevent myself from ripping you to pieces."

James and Sirius were frozen, staring at their future selves, when Sirius broke out of his trance. "That's not true!" he stated boldly. Harry didn't hear him. He began shouting frantically. "Harry, don't listen to it! It's not real!"

James jerked into action. "It's not real," he repeated slowly. Then, in a confident voice, "I love you, Harry."

Those three words immediately broke Harry out of his reverie. "_Riddikulus!_"

Lily tried to hide the tears streaming down her face.

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Harry had nearly forgotten about the mysterious note he'd gotten that morning with all the chaos in DADA. He shuddered, wishing he'd gotten a chance to talk to James and Sirius about what happened during class and the note as well, but they hadn't gotten a chance to talk in private. Apparently, they cursed Mrs. Norris so that she left orange pawprints everywhere. Harry wasn't angry at them for doing so – he hated Mrs. Norris – but he did wish they hadn't been caught. They had detention, and most likely wouldn't be back until after midnight. It meant he had to go meet the writer of the note by himself, since he wasn't completely comfortable with Lupin and he didn't want to worry Lily. He figured it was for the best. The letter said to go alone anyway.

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Regulus waited impatiently in the almost empty classroom. It had nothing on the walls, but there were a few desks. Regulus could tell no one had been in the classroom for a long time. He knew he was at least half an hour early, but he was nervous. And he wanted to get there before Harry Potter.

Not five minutes later did Regulus hear the door opening. He jumped off the desk he'd been sitting casually on. Apparently Harry had decided to come early.

"Regulus?" Harry asked with surprise upon seeing the haughty Slytherin alone in the classroom.

Regulus forced himself to act cold and aloof. "Yes, Potter," he sneered. "I sent you the note. I heard your little conversation with the mud – "

"Don't you dare call her a mudblood," Harry growled, the normally kind Gryffindor furious. Regulus jumped.

"Ah, I mean, Evans," he hissed quietly, suddenly realizing that he was far from in control. Just what had he gotten himself into?

Harry studied him for a second. Just as Harry opened his mouth to speak, Regulus blurted, "I didn't mean to hear it! I swear! It was an accident! I'd much rather not know, to tell you the truth. If you Obliviate me, I won't have a problem with that. But don't hurt me! I haven't done anything wrong!"

By the time Regulus had spoken the last few sentences, he was cowering in front of Harry, knees almost touching the ground. His voice had started out angry and demanding, but had quickly turned into pleas for mercy. The smaller boy was nearly crying, not looking at Harry.

Harry was shocked. He couldn't believe that the normally controlled Slytherin had broken down so easily. Reacting on instinct, he awkwardly put his arm around Regulus' shoulders. This was the last straw. Regulus burst into tears, sobbing into Harry's chest. Harry rubbed the boy's back hesitantly. He knew immediately that someone far scarier than Harry had caused Regulus to act this way, and wondered what could have possibly happened.

It only took a few minutes for Regulus to calm down. Regulus tried to breathe normally, gasping a bit. He was ashamed. How could he have acted like that in front of someone who not only hardly knew him, but also was a Gryffindor and a friend of his brother? He pushed the younger Potter away forcefully, but Harry didn't let go.

"Reg?" Harry asked quietly, the shortened version of the pureblood's name coming easily to him. "What's wrong? You know I'd never hurt you, right?"

Regulus couldn't believe it. Harry seemed so sure of the fact – it was as though he knew, deep down, that Regulus wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was. Lily was the same way. Regulus supposed Harry got that particular trait from his mother, since his father certainly didn't have compassion of any kind.

Regulus looked into the concerned green eyes that were staring back at him, and realized that if he had to choose anyone in the world to share all his secrets with, this boy would definitely be a good choice. He opened his mouth, and began explaining to the Gryffindor, of all people, his deepest worries and never-ending troubles.

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"Padfoot, shhh! You'll wake him!"

It was sometime after midnight, and James and Sirius were making their way over to Harry's bed, armed with their greatest pranking materials. They had just gotten back from detention. Sirius grinned, gloating. "He'll never know what hit him!"

"Shush, Sirius!" James admonished, but he was smirking as well. The two boys crept over to Harry's bed. "One, two, three!" James hissed. The boys whipped open the curtains and were about to unleash their craziest prank yet when they realized the boy wasn't in his bed.

The two teenagers stared blankly at the empty bed for a moment, and then spun around, expecting some sort of attack, wondering how Harry had realized what they were going to do. When they finally figured out Harry wasn't in the room, and had probably snuck out some time ago, they cursed simultaneously.

"How could we have missed him?" Sirius exclaimed loudly, waking the other boys up. As Remus and Peter rubbed their eyes, quickly speculating what Padfoot was up to now, James raged.

"I can't believe he snuck out!" he hissed. "I just can't believe it! He knows he shouldn't leave the dorm after curfew, especially without us!"

"James, we sneak out all the time," Remus tiredly pointed out, realizing what had happened. "He probably didn't think you cared."

"That's not the point! I'll have to have a talk with him when he comes back!"

Sirius' shoulders sagged. Just when he thought he finally had James out of his funk where all he thought about was being a father and having a family, he was at it again. He'd had normal James back, but then Harry had ruined it. He fisted his hands angrily. It didn't matter how much he tried being kind to the boy, Harry just messed up everything. Sirius knew Harry didn't mean it. Harry thought very highly of Sirius. He seemed to value Sirius' opinion just as much as his father's, if the boggart was anything to go by. But Sirius was still angry.


	13. Chapter 13

"All my life, I looked up to him! He was my big brother! I _still _look up to him! And now it's like – "

"Shush, Reg, calm down. It'll be alright," Harry said hastily, as Regulus burst into tears again. Harry couldn't remember ever bursting into tears this violently when he was a third year – especially in the presence of other people – but Regulus Black certainly did seem to have much more to worry about than he usually let on.

"Start at the beginning," Harry said softly with a weak smile at the trembling boy in his arms. Regulus glanced at him hesitantly and turned red, as though just realizing what had happened.

"I apologize." Regulus wiped his face with his sleeve and took the emotion out of his voice. "I merely got carried away. It won't happen again."

"You don't have to act all composed and mature, Regulus," Harry said kindly. He was surprised with his own behavior. He normally was pretty terrible when it came to social situations in general, especially ones where people were crying. But something felt so right with Regulus. Harry felt as comfortable as he felt with Ron and Hermione. He tightened his hold on the smaller boy. "Talk to me. It'll help."

Regulus nodded jerkily. "Well – all right," he began. "I suppose it started when Sirius went to Hogwarts. We were really close until then. I remember he was so excited…"

_Flashback:_

Sirius had been packing and unpacking his trunk more and more as the days drew closer to September 1st. It was nearly noon the day before Sirius was going to leave, and he'd already repacked at least six times by Regulus' count. Regulus swung his legs back and forth while sitting on Sirius' bed.

"That should do it," Sirius said with a smile, putting the last book neatly away. "Reg, tomorrow is going to be the best day of my entire life!"

"And the worst day of mine," Regulus muttered, but Sirius wasn't listening. Humming in a distinctly un-Sirius-like fashion, the older boy walked over to the owl by the window and started petting her.

"Do you think I'll be in Slytherin?" Sirius asked suddenly. Regulus wondered for a moment whether Sirius was talking to the owl or Regulus, but Sirius looked at Regulus expectantly and he hastened to reply.

"Erm – well – I suppose so. After all, the Blacks have been in Slytherin for generations. It's to be expected." Regulus paused. "Why? Don't you want to be?"

Sirius turned sharply, abandoning the owl and putting all his attention on Regulus. "Why in the name of Merlin would I want to be in Slytherin?" Sirius asked, sneering. "Especially if it's the House our whole family's been in. It's practically guaranteed to be full of nutcases and loonies."

"You really shouldn't say that, Sirius," Regulus said timidly. "I know you don't like them – I mean, I don't like many of them either – but they're your family. They love you."

"Love?" Sirius scoffed. "You think this is love?" He shook his head. "No, I won't be in Slytherin, Regulus."

Regulus paused, waiting for Sirius to continue. "What House, then?" he asked when Sirius turned back to the window. "Ravenclaw?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, but Regulus didn't see. "Of course not." He smirked. "I'll be in Gryffindor." He whipped around again and walked over to the bed Regulus was sitting on and sat beside him. "I'll be a true Gryffindor, Reg. I won't live in the dungeons or treat Muggleborns like scum. I'll have true friends – friends, not allies. I'll be everything our parents told us not to be." Sirius' eyes glowed. "And so will you."

Regulus gulped. He looked around the room. He supposed it hadn't hit him until then. Sirius was leaving. He'd come back, of course – but things would never be the same. He spun around and launched himself into his brother's arms. "I will, Sirius! I'll be in Gryffindor with you." He tightened his hold. "I'll always be with you. And you'll always be with me. Right?"

"Reg, don't get all emotional on me," Sirius said uncomfortably. "It's not like you'll never see me again." He pulled out of his brother's arms. "Let's go have lunch." He wrinkled his nose. "Hopefully Kreacher hasn't poisoned it."

"There's never anything wrong with my food," Regulus pouted.

"Yes, but that's because the infuriating elf likes you for some reason," Sirius sighed, casually slinging an arm around his brother. Sirius didn't see the way Regulus glowed at the small gesture, or the distraught look on his face as he looked into the empty-feeling room again.

_End of Flashback_

"I would've done anything for him," Regulus said slowly. "Absolutely anything. He used to be the same way. But then he went to Hogwarts. Mother was furious when she found out he'd been put in Gryffindor. I've never seen her so angry." Regulus laughed hollowly. "Father didn't even care about Sirius at that point."

Harry rubbed Reg's back as he continued. "That first week, he sent me a letter every day. He hated James Potter, you know," Regulus said, looking up at Harry. "They loathed each other on sight. But both of them liked Lupin and hated Snape, so they had to deal with each other." Regulus sighed and leaned farther into Harry's arms. "The letters stopped coming every day. I kept writing. By February, I was lucky if he was writing once a month."

"I'm sorry you were alone," Harry said softly.

Regulus sighed in thanks. "When he came home during the summer, all he talked about was new friends. The Marauders. They already had that name by then. All he cared about was his friends. I think he spent almost a month at Potter's house. The next year went by slowly. That next summer, all he would talk about was how great it was going to be when we were in Gryffindor together." Regulus eyes glazed over. "But we got in a fight on the train… I don't even remember what it was about… But I was mad at him, and I wanted to hurt him – not just for that, but for forgetting about me…"

_Flashback:_

"Black, Regulus!"

Regulus confidently strode up to the Sorting Hat. He gracefully sat upon the stool and allowed the filthy old hat to be placed on his head.

"Ah, another Black," Regulus heard a voice in his ear hiss. "Your brother was the odd one, hmm? Perhaps he's influenced you as well…"

Regulus growled under his breath. _Don't put me with him. Anywhere but Gryffindor. Even Hufflepuff would be better – just don't put me with my blasted brother._

"Are you sure? Well, I suppose if you truly won't take Gryffindor, you might as well be in SLYTHERIN!"

Regulus strutted in a manner that rivaled even James Potter over to the Slytherin table, completely ignoring the one across the Hall covered in red and gold – and his dumbstruck brother sitting there.

_End Flashback_

"Sirius was the angriest I'd ever seen him," Regulus mused. "At least he noticed me though. I suppose it wasn't quite the way I wanted to be noticed, but…"

"Regulus, what do you think about Voldemort?" Harry asked abruptly.

Regulus jerked at the name, and then looked at Harry cautiously. "Mother and Father think he's heading in the right direction, and Sirius, naturally, disagrees."

"But what do you think?"

Regulus was quiet for a minute. "I think," Regulus said carefully, "I think I won't really get the chance to have an opinion, will I?"

_Flashback:_

"Orion, my dear," Walburga Black asked smoothly while seated at the dinner table. "What do you think of this Dark Lord?"

Orion glanced up at his wife. "He's got the right idea," he drawled quietly. "Shame he didn't get started a bit sooner, don't you think?"

"Oh yes," Walburga immediately replied, smiling sadistically. "But at least young Sirius and Regulus will be able to join him."

"I'll never join him," Sirius said abruptly, looking up from his dinner for the first time that night. "I'd rather not follow someone like I'm their slave and be evil as well."

Regulus looked at his fourteen-year-old brother fearfully, knowing full well that their parents were not going to be exactly thrilled by this new revelation.

_End Flashback_

"I'm not Sirius. If I tried to escape, I'd have nowhere to go. No one would believe me if I told them I didn't want to be a Death Eater – the most I could hope for is them thinking I'm a coward."

"Why don't you talk to Sirius?" Harry asked gently. "I know you think he doesn't like you, but… He does care. And he probably knows you better than anyone else does."

Regulus sighed. "Harry, you don't have to try to make me feel better by saying – "

"I'm not trying to make you feel better. Sirius cares about you. He worries about you. You're his little brother. It doesn't matter how cruel he is, or if he ignores you, or if he's a million miles away – he'll always be there for you when you really need him. I promise." Harry looked him in the eye, hoping that what he said was true. Yes, he knew better than most that just because someone was your family didn't mean they loved you… But his wasn't the only family out there. And he knew for a fact that Ron's brothers all cared deeply for him. Even Percy, who made it clear when he sent a letter to Ron warning him to stay away from Harry that he was watching after him. Percy was doing it to protect his brother. Harry knew Sirius had a soft spot for the little boy who told him he was going to be in Gyffindor just like his big brother. All he had to do was show Sirius that the little boy he once knew was still there.

Harry stood up, and reached out a hand to pull the Slytherin from where they were sitting. Both were sore from sitting on the floor so long. "What time is it?" Regulus asked quietly.

Harry looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the classroom. "Merlin!" he exclaimed. "It's nearly three in the morning! We better get to bed before we're caught."

Regulus nodded and turned towards the door, but Harry grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "Reg?" Harry asked. The younger boy looked at Harry tiredly. "Try to give Sirius another chance, all right? Maybe if you do, he'll give you one as well." Regulus hesitated a moment. Harry looked at him pleadingly. Regulus sighed and nodded, and began walking away. "Oh, and Regulus?" Harry called just as Regulus was about to leave. "Don't forget I'll always be here for you. I promise."

Regulus smiled.


	14. Chapter 14

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

Harry woke with a start to find his father next to his bed. He gulped. "What's up?"

James' tone was deadly. "Where were you last night? It was past midnight and you snuck out! We tried waiting up for you, but you were gone past two! What did you think you were doing?"

"Yeah, Little Prongs," Sirius drawled, lounging on his bed with a haughty expression on his face. "It's pretty hard to prank someone when you don't know where they are."

"That's not the point! Harry, you know better than to be out of bed that late!"

Harry gaped at them. "What?"

"Could all of you go back to sleep? It's too early in the morning for this," Remus complained, his voice muffled because his head was shoved into his pillow.

"You're mad at me for being out of bed past curfew?" Harry asked slowly, finally beginning to understand.

"YES!"

"But the only reason you noticed I was gone was because you were going to prank me…"

"Well, yes. But – "

"And you _never_ sneak out at night, hmm?"

"I – well – er – It doesn't matter what I've done! We're talking about you!"

James stared at Harry, trying to stay angry, but Harry looked so hurt it was nearly impossible.

"Can't you just decide what you want from me?" Harry asked furiously. "First I'm not enough of a Marauder, now I'm too much! Make up your minds!" Harry got up angrily and walked straight to the bathroom, but then stopped in the doorway. "You didn't even ask what I was doing." He looked at James and Sirius. "Did it ever occur to you that I wasn't doing it just to be trouble? That maybe someone needed help?"

Harry walked away, leaving James and Sirius to stare after him, shocked.

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The four Marauders walked down to the common room by themselves, since Harry had left before them. They'd thought he was going to meet up with Lily and Annabelle.

"James? Have you seen Harry?"

James spun around, and saw Lily and Annabelle sitting in the armchairs by the fire. The four boys had walked right by them, lost in their thoughts.

"No, we thought he'd be with you."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "No, he isn't. I suppose he's already gone down then."

The six walked to the Great Hall in silence. Lily and Annabelle kept exchanging looks. The Marauders were never this quiet. Something was up.

When they finally found Harry in the Great Hall, they got the shock of their life.

Harry was not at the Gryffindor table. He was not at the Hufflepuff table, and he wasn't at the Ravenclaw table either. He was sitting with the Slytherins – or more specifically, with Severus Snape and Regulus Black.

While James merely stared in shock, Sirius found himself becoming angry. He'd been trying to keep his temper under control for far too long, and it was about to explode. He stomped over to the Slytherin table, his face bright red, grabbed Harry's arm, and dragged the smaller boy out of the Great Hall with the other Gryffindors trailing behind.

"How dare you!" Sirius spat. "I can't believe this! It's like you're not even a true Gryffindor! And _where were you last night?"_

Harry looked at his godfather calmly and didn't reply.

"_Where were you?"_

"He was with me."

Everyone spun around. "Regulus?" Sirius hissed. "What were the two of you doing?"

"All I was doing was talking, and all he was doing was listening. I couldn't take it anymore, Sirius," Regulus spoke, his voice wavering. "It all became too much. I don't _want_ to be evil, but you never even gave me a chance to be good. You never gave me a chance at anything. When you went to Hogwarts, you stopped caring what happened to me."

"You were Sorted into Slytherin!"

"_That doesn't make me evil!"_

"Name one wizard in Slytherin who wasn't!"

"Hmmm… I don't know… maybe our cousin? _Andromeda?"_

Sirius paused. "But you aren't Andromeda."

"Maybe I am! How would you know? What do you even know about me?"

Sirius gaped at his brother. Regulus sighed. "Just think about it, all right? Cause… Sirius…" Regulus hesitated. "I really need an older brother right now."

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"What do you want? Come to yell at me again?"

"No, of course not – "

"Really?"

"Really! Listen Harry…" James sighed. "I'm not very good at this father thing, am I?"

Harry didn't reply.

"But I'm trying! You know I am. Really, really hard. I just don't know what to do a lot… Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have gotten mad. I was just worried about you."

Harry stopped.

"Really?" he asked, his voice hoarse. "You mean that?"

"Of course! I'm your father…"

"But you're a teenager," Harry replied. "You're not really my father, not yet. And I'm not exactly easy to get along with…"

James looked carefully at his son. "I meant what I said when you were facing the boggart, Harry," he said quietly. "I really do love you. So does Padfoot, he just has trouble showing it sometimes…"

Harry swallowed. "Thanks, Dad," Harry said quietly. "I love you too."

James put his arm around Harry's thin shoulders, and the two continued the walk to Transfiguration. It wasn't until later that Harry realized for the first time since he'd gotten here, he'd called James Dad. And it felt much better than he could ever have imagined.

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"You should really forgive him, you know, Sirius."

"I don't need a lecture from you, Moony." Remus opened his mouth to protest, but Sirius cut him off. "I mean it, Remus. I just…" Sirius closed his eyes, ignoring the cauldron in front of them and trying to block out Slughorn's booming voice. "I guess I don't know what to do."

Remus shifted in his seat. "Well, he's your brother," Remus pointed out. "And it's clear that he loves you." Sirius jerked in his seat. "You can see it his eyes," Remus continued, ignoring his friend. "He might not be so bad after all. But if you don't take this chance now, he might end up that way."

Sirius groaned, slouching even farther into his seat. All this thinking and emotions were making his head hurt.

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"Do you think he'll forgive me?" Regulus asked Harry timidly. The two were sitting by the lake.

"Yes," Harry said immediately. "Although there's nothing for him to forgive, I believe he will. I don't think he ever stopped caring for you; more that he simply forgot that he did. It didn't register to him until you were pulled back into his life again. This will be good for him, I think." Harry sighed. "I think I'm mostly worried about what will happen when I go back though… Somebody's going to have to erase everyone's memories, and things might be different – actually, they'll definitely be different." Harry shuddered. "Just look at James and Lily. They actually get along now, it's incredible." Regulus laughed. "I'd laugh too, but really, it is. And obviously, even without me being here, they'll still eventually fall in love, but it's a shame that they have to hate each other first."

"Yeah, I guess so," Regulus sighed. "But why does everyone have to forget? Harry… Harry, I can't forget this. I can't forget you. You don't understand."

"Reg, what's wrong? What are you talking about?" Harry asked, worried.

"Harry… If I forget you, then I think I'll turn evil."

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"Severus, what is going on with Harry and Regulus?"

"I have no clue, Lily. How would I know? I hardly know them."

"But they've been talking to you!" Annabelle argued. "Harry hasn't talked to us in ages! He's busy either fighting with James and Sirius or buddying it up with you and Regulus."

Severus breathed deeply. "All I know is that day with the boggart, Regulus (and I'm assuming Harry as well) – for reasons I don't know – decided to meet up at midnight or so. That's when Regulus snuck out at least. When he came back into the common room, it was at least three in the morning and Regulus' face was red, like he'd been crying. The next day, Harry comes over to the Slytherin table and sits with us, which was surprising for several reasons: First of all, he's a Gryffindor; and second of all, Regulus doesn't even like me that much but he decided to sit with me as well. That's all I know. Now leave me alone."

And with that, Severus put his face back into his Potions textbook and ignored the girls until they left the library.


	15. Chapter 15

_Flashback:_

"Siwi-us?"

The five-year-old boy rubbed his eyes sleepily. It was the middle of the night, he had been asleep, and he knew exactly who was calling his name. Yawning, he squinted towards to the doorway of his room and saw the outline of his three-year-old brother, clutching his toy snake. Sirius remembered that snake. It used to be his.

"Hello Reg," he said tiredly, rolling over in his bed to make room for the younger boy. Regulus clambered on top of the green bedspread, pulling it back and snuggling close to his older brother. Sirius yawned. "Bad dream?"

"Yes," the little boy squeaked, pulling Sirius closer. It was only then that Sirius realized Regulus was shaking slightly. Sirius immediately squeezed the boy tighter, and the two fell asleep.

_End of Flashback_

Sirius was scared.

He loved his brother very dearly, even if he didn't always show it. He missed him sometimes, when the two boys were stuck in that house together. Sirius remembered wishing Regulus hadn't been Sorted into Slytherin so that he would have someone to talk to.

The more Sirius thought about it, the more he realized that he really had pushed his brother away. Reg's Slytherin inclinations were Sirius' fault. Sirius had always naturally been brash and courageous, and this stemmed from his overprotective tendencies for his little brother. He'd done his best to shelter his brother from the evils of the world – until he got to Hogwarts. Truthfully, Sirius knew he'd completely forgotten about Regulus. What he should've done is written nearly every day. He should have jumped at the chance to go home, simply to see his little brother. He should have told Regulus all about Gryffindor, but also listened to him and what Reg had dealt with at home. But most of all, he shouldn't have turned his back on Regulus. Especially after Regulus had been Sorted into Slytherin. After all, that was the time Regulus needed him the most.

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"Annabelle, darling, you really shouldn't worry about these things. The boys are quite all right."

Annabelle crossed her arms, frustrated. "Rhett, you only see them in class! Something's going on that I don't know about. Lily does, but she won't tell me. But something's wrong, and it's got something to do with Black's little brother."

Rhett shrugged, sipping from his cup of coffee. "It seems to be good. Look outside. Harry and James have never gotten along better."

Rhett was right, and Annabelle knew it. She could see the Quidditch pitch through the window, and it certainly seemed like the boys were having a good time. But something was off, and she was determined to discover what it was.

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Sirius was almost positive he had never felt so awkward in his life.

Sirius Black did not admit he was wrong. Sirius Black did not apologize. Sirius Black was never nervous. But for some inexplicable reason, all of these things seemed to be occurring.

He shifted his feet, glaring a hole in the floor with his eyes. "Look, Reg, you know I'm sorry. Really, I am! I thought – well, it doesn't matter. I know I neglected you a bit, and I wish I hadn't done that." He paused, still staring at the floor, trying to find the right words. "The truth is – " Sirius quickly glanced around, ensuring no one was in the corridor the two were currently occupying. "The truth is that I love you."

Sirius was barely recovering from admitting those three words. He felt ridiculously mushy, like a girl on Valentine's Day. But before he could even look up, he was attacked by his little brother, who had decided to squeeze him to death.

"I love you too," Regulus breathed into Sirius' shirt, as the older boy hesitantly wrapped his arms around his brother.

"You're being rather sappy, Reg," Sirius commented, looking at the boy strangely. "Not very Slytherin at all."

Reg just grinned. "That's all right! I'm not sure I ever quite fit in there anyway." He bit his lip. "The Hat wasn't thrilled to put me there, to be honest. But I – I insisted. I didn't – oh, I don't know. I wasn't thinking."

Sirius laughed bitterly. "Don't worry, kid. You weren't the only one not thinking."

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"Harry, I won't forget it. I can't."

"We've discussed this already Regulus. You have to! It'll mess up the timeline if you don't!"

Regulus shifted in the grass next to the tree the two boys were leaning against. "But you and James are getting closer every day! Before you know it you'll be on your way home!"

Harry stared. "What do those things have to do with each other?

Regulus sighed. "Didn't Dumbledore say you could only go home when you were at peace?"

"Yes."

"And didn't the mirror show a picture of your father?"

Harry hadn't told Regulus everything, and he didn't think Regulus understood what he was talking about. "Reg – "

"So once you realize that your dad was just this kid that was all right but made mistakes, then you'll be going home! You'll have made peace with him!"

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but then abruptly closed it. What Regulus was saying made a whole lot of sense. Each day, as he got to know James more and more, he came closer to seeing James as just another person. He wasn't the glorious hero Harry used to believe he was, but neither was he the hurtful bully seen in the Pensieve. Harry rubbed his eyes. If Regulus was right, he might be going home tomorrow.

"Don't you see?" Regulus persisted. "We don't have much time!"

"Regulus, I'm still not willing to tell you any more about the future," Harry said sternly. "And you have to let Dumbledore erase your memory just like everyone else."

Regulus seemed close to tears. "I can't!" he cried. "Harry, you don't understand what it's like!"

"What what's like?" Harry asked, perplexed by the sudden emotion.

Regulus ran his hand through his hair, the one feature that made him seem just like his brother. "Everyone expects me to join the Dark Lord, even my parents. He was after their time, but they still support him. If everyone forgets about you, Sirius will forget we ever made up and go back to hating me! He's changed a lot since you came and I don't think I'll be able to make him see sense without you." Regulus paused for a breath, but Harry interrupted.

"Regulus, this just isn't plausible! I know it'll be tough, but you'll be fine." Harry felt a twinge of guilt as he said this, and was surprised Regulus didn't call him out for a liar. Harry knew Regulus did not have a happy ending, but Harry certainly didn't want to make it worse…

Regulus turned his big black eyes on Harry. "Please?" he whispered. "I won't interfere too badly, I promise!"

Harry looked at Regulus, his mouth set in a grim line, and gave him his answer.

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Annabelle was more than a little shocked. She'd been listening to Regulus and Harry from another tree nearby, and understood exactly what was going on. Potter and Lily – dead? And why did Regulus know? She shook her head and focused on the sad truth, ignoring the added complication of Regulus. James Potter and Lily Evans, the strongest and bravest people she'd ever met, dead? James she could deal with, simply because she didn't know him, but Lily? She wouldn't be able to live herself without Lily. She became determined. She would do anything it took to save Lily. She began to plan – she knew Rhett would help, he loved Lily and James. And on top of that, he could deal with Regulus.

She was so intent upon her planning that Annabelle completely missed Harry's reply. Cursing her luck, she crept away from the pair and headed towards Rhett's classroom.

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"Mr. Black, could you stay after class please?"

Regulus paused. He was about to swing his bag over his shoulder and leave the DADA classroom, but apparently that was not meant to be. He sighed, slumping back down into his chair. He knew the fifth and seventh years had it far worse than he did – after all; he was only a third year. But he felt drained. Perhaps that was partly from the excitement as of late. Regulus rubbed his eyes. He had to stop lying to himself. It wasn't the classes that had been wearing him out. The constant sneers from the other purebloods in Slytherin were enough to make anyone grumpy. They obviously didn't appreciate him becoming friendly with his brother once again. Even Regulus' previous popularity didn't help. The small boy straightened his shoulders. He could live through it, he knew he could. He would be brave, like a Gryffindor – like his brother.

As the last third-year exited the classroom, Annabelle came in, dragging a confused Harry. His eyebrows furrowed together to form a line when he saw Regulus in there as well.

"I heard you guys talking," Annabelle began immediately. "And I know about Lily and James. Harry, Regulus is right! We have to save them! If you already agreed with Regulus, that's wonderful, but if you didn't then you have to listen to me! We can't just let them die! That'd be like killing them ourselves!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Harry shouted angrily. "Do you think I haven't thought about that at all? They're not the only ones I could save, Annabelle. But it's not that simple!"

"Harry," Rhett said softly. "We'll figure it out. We won't do anything you don't want us to do. But you have to help us."

Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it. He opened it again, and the other three leaned in to listen carefully to what he had to say.


	16. Chapter 16

"Professor, I had a question… I was wondering what you planned on doing so that everyone here forgot about me?"

Albus Dumbledore stared at Harry critically, but there was still a distinct twinkle in his eyes, so Harry continued. "I mean, since no one in my time remembers meeting me – at least, I don't think they do – then you must've found some way to make everyone forget?"

Harry waited with bated breath as the Headmaster shifted in his seat. "I'm assuming you've heard of ordinary Memory Charms, Harry?" Harry quickly nodded. "Yes, while those work quite well when the Ministry has to modify the memories of one or two Muggles who have seen magic, there have been times when many more saw magic that they simply could not explain away. In these cases, rather than using a simple _Obliviate_, they would use _Oblitus Populus_. This spell is more difficult, but it can modify the memories of many more people. That is the spell I plan on using. Since I am quite good at it, I won't have to erase all of their memories since your arrival – only the ones pertaining to you."

"But sir," Harry began, "How will you cast it on everyone? Even at meals, not everyone's together – some people don't go."

"I will cast it upon the entire castle and its grounds, Harry."

Harry paused. "I suppose that'll work, then."

Dumbledore stood up and began to pace. "How are you getting along with your father, Harry?"

"Quite well, sir," Harry said quietly. It was the truth – he'd been getting along with James as though they were good friends. After speaking with Regulus, Harry had realized that accepting his father had been what he was supposed to do in the first place. But he had been sure to keep a certain distance between them. If he got too close, Harry might suddenly be transported back home, and that would mess up everything.

"Good, good," Dumbledore murmured. "We should be all right then. It shouldn't be much longer."

HPHPHPHPHP

"It's here."

Harry paused, allowing that to sink in. "Regulus, it's here! That mirror is here! I – I don't want to go back! I'm not ready!"

"Harry, calm down, it's all right, isn't it? You're not gone yet." Regulus put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "And you are ready. If you weren't, it wouldn't be here."

Harry glanced down at the Slytherin. "When did you get so wise?"

Regulus didn't reply, but merely raised one eyebrow, knowing Harry was stalling.

"I've never felt less brave in my life," Harry said quietly, turning away from Regulus. "Why is it so hard to give them up? I have so much to go back to…"

Regulus braced himself for a long speech that never came. Harry simply looked at him sadly and said, "Don't do anything you don't want to do, Reg, not ever. And – " He swallowed. "If you get the chance… Before you have to cast the protective charm… Tell my dad I love him? And my mum. Because I do – so very much."

And before Harry could hesitate or Regulus could reply, Harry stepped into the mirror and was gone.

HPHPHPHPHP

_Six years later_

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

But he couldn't decide if it was supposed to be better or worse.

He still remembered the day Annabelle died. She passed fighting Voldemort – she always was a fighter, even in the end. Lily had been distraught, and Sirius had locked himself up for days until Remus had the courage to talk some sense into him. But none of them had any idea where her cousin was. Rhett Hughes had seemingly disappeared after their fifth year. Most people had simply written him off, especially since he'd taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and all of them seemed to have rather gruesome endings. But Annabelle hadn't seemed upset at all, and they'd never understood why.

But now, James understood. All of the memories in the Pensieve were proof of that. Anything Regulus had ever heard concerning Voldemort or Harry was in there. And he knew what happened to Rhett Hughes. He went after a Horcrux, but the Horcrux got him. And Regulus was left alone, with a locket he couldn't open and memories of a boy who'd barely even been born.

James understood everything now. Because on the night of October 31st, 1981, he hadn't been at the house. He'd been in Regulus Black's Pensieve. The man Voldemort killed that night hadn't been him at all. Regulus Black had died in his place.

_Dear James,_

_I suppose you never thought that I'd call you James? It was hard, for all those years, calling you Potter when one day I would give everything to save you, but no matter. The past is the past, and it can't be helped._

_In this Pensieve is everything you need to know. Absolutely everything. Remember this: if Harry says it happened, then you must ensure that it does. YOU MUST NOT MESS UP THE TIMELINE. Everyone, especially Harry, have to believe you are dead. Please don't try to help him, no matter how much you want to. He'd much prefer you with him when he's fifteen that for you to mess something up and have the world explode. He said that, not me. I think he gets the theatrics from Sirius._

_I know you'll see Sirius again one day, and when you do, please explain everything. Don't let him blame himself, because I know he will once he's done cursing me. Tell him I love him. I know that deep down he feels the same. You'll see why._

_Don't expect to sit around for the next fourteen years – there's plenty for you to do. I know you'll be impatient, waiting around for the day you can see Harry again, but you must promise me you'll wait. You'll know when. And when you see him, tell Harry I did exactly what I wanted to do._

_ Your friend,_

_ Regulus Arcturus Black_

HPHPHPHPHP

James had waited years for this moment.

The time had finally come. He'd finished his mission only a year ago, but a year is so long when you have nothing else. After spying for years on Voldemort, Regulus had figured out what it was that kept him alive: Horcruxes. Filthy little things, if you asked James. Gave him the shivers. He'd destroyed them all – well, nearly all of them. The ring, the cup, the locket Rhett had died for, and the diadem were all gone by his hand. Harry had inadvertently destroyed the diary – James was so proud of his son, he thought his heart would burst – so the only other pieces of soul left were Nagini (James had no idea where the snake was, and had only recently discovered its existence), the one currently residing inside of Voldemort, and possibly one inside of Harry. James' fist clenched. The idea of a piece of that awful man being anywhere near his precious made him want to smash something, but he calmed himself. It was only a suspicion.

It got quite lonely, being dead. James often had to wear glamours, since his face was rather recognizable after his son's fame. He'd gotten himself a dog, but it had reminded himself too much of Padfoot, and that had only caused him to brood on his innocent friend sitting in Azkaban. He'd tried various pets – he'd even attempted to keep a spider as a pet once – but every time, he'd been reminded of something from his past and wish for it so much that his heart would ache.

It'd been so tempting to reveal himself. Just to Remus, or Sirius once he'd escaped Azkaban. But James knew that even one little thing could have a disastrous effect on their fragile world, so he kept to himself and did his job. Destroying bits of Voldemort's soul had seemed exciting at first, but it didn't take long for it to become boring. James lived for the rush that came from a fight, not from discovery like Remus. But he'd kept on reminding himself that he was doing this for Harry.

Harry was the only thing that kept him going. On cold nights, when he'd sleep in the forest as Prongs, he'd desperately try to remember the days when Harry was an infant. It had hurt so much to lose Lily. She'd always been his rock. He could count on her, even if it was just for an insult. But he couldn't count on her anymore. His memories were slipping away, and while he stored some of them in the Pensieve, not every moment and feeling could be bottled up and stored. He had all the important ones though. Their first Valentine's Day, the day they got married, their first anniversary, Harry's birth… all of these precious memories were kept so James could show them to Harry. Harry deserved to see them. Harry deserved so much, but James hadn't been able to do anything for him.

But now he could. Today was the day. To everyone else, it was completely normal. But this was the day Harry time traveled. He was assuming Harry would come back at the same time. It was possible he wouldn't – Regulus hadn't understood much about the mirror – but James felt the anticipation building up all the same. Today was the day he could see his son. He'd been waiting too many years for this day and it was finally here.


End file.
